


Time Travel Is Not My Idea of Vacation…

by Acidwing



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-02-23 03:11:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2531924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acidwing/pseuds/Acidwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>…or Maybe It Is</p><p>“We don’t want to accidentally change the past. I kinda like the way my life turned out.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU, but following close to canon storyline. Also, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Spoilers up to and including the last arc.
> 
> Rated for cursing and canon-typical violence. Reposted from ff.net

** Chapter 1: What the Hell Happened? **

Ishida Uryu blearily opened his eyes and stared in confusion at the familiar black sky and countless sand dunes. What was he doing in Hueco Mundo? …And why did his head feel like it was filled with cotton?

With a groan he tried to move when an answering groan nearby attracted his attention. The Quincy barely managed to turn his head and focus his gaze on a familiar orange-haired figure dressed in a black coat.

“…Kurosaki?” he rasped, his throat feeling drier than the desert around them.

“Ishida?” His friend stopped moving and turned to him with a blank look. “…Why did you activate Vollstandig?”

Only when it was mentioned did Uryu notice the bright blue glow and he stared at the constructs splayed awkwardly at his sides. The reishi-gathering wings twitched slightly under scrutiny but refused to move. The brunet tried to find some reason for using the ultimate Quincy technique, but his treacherous memory showed only empty space in place of recent events. Unable to find the answer, Ishida replied with a question of his own, “Why are you in Resurreccion?”

“I’m not-” the orange-haired hybrid started to say raising one hand to his face automatically but paused as his fingers brushed one curved horn. “Oh, I am,” he said in wonder. “Why?”

“That’s what I’m asking, Kurosaki!” Ishida bristled trying to sit up. If only his head stopped spinning so much…

Trying and failing to stand up, Ichigo once again fell to his knees and growled, “Quit yelling, Ishida!” Unfortunately, raising his voice proved to be a mistake. At another stab of headache he groaned in misery, “What the hell happened?”

Uryu had finally managed to sit up using his wings as crutches, “Question of a century, Kurosaki. I have no idea.”

Ichigo rubbed his temples with annoyance and directed the same question inwards.

 **‘Hell if I know, Kingy,’** the distorted voice of his Hollow replied. **‘But this place is _trashed_.’**

‘Is this why I feel like crap?’

‘It is the only explanation, Ichigo. Unlike the wounds inflicted upon your body or the reiryoku depletion, the damage to your mind is slow to heal.’

Great. So some time earlier he was injured _and_ with lower than normal reiryoku level? Not like he wasn’t used to it or something, but still… ‘What the hell happened?’ he repeated once again.

He got the impression of Zangetsu shaking his head, ‘Our memories are damaged as well. Do not worry though, they will return in time.’

With a sigh Ichigo dragged one clawed hand through his orange mane and turned to his Quincy friend, “Zangetsu says our memories will come back, but he has no idea what happened to us.”

Nodding in reply, Ishida had finally managed to haul himself to his feet, his bright blue wings plowing through the sand behind him. Thankfully, in the semi-dormant state they were now, the constructs neither drained the reishi from his surroundings nor required much energy to maintain. Still, they were quite bothersome, so Uryu quickly dismissed them as the Sanrei Glove reformed on his right hand. Pushing his glasses to the bridge of his nose with one finger, he asked, “So what should we do in the meantime?”

Ichigo shrugged scratching his head. “I suppose, I can open a Garganta but I’m not sure I can direct it. Not yet anyway. And travelling through the shadows is an all around bad idea.” He grimaced slightly. Navigating through shadows was a pain in the ass even _without_ the horrendous headache he had now.

“…To Las Noches then?”

Ichigo snorted, “Yeah, right. If you tell me where Las Noches _is_ , then sure.”

“Then what do you propose?” the dark-haired Quincy snapped. “Find some Hollows and ask them for directions?”

Kurosaki froze, about to snap back. “You know,” he said slowly, “That’s not a bad idea. Actually, why don’t we ask them to make a Garganta to Karakura? It’s not like we can’t bully some Adjuchas if they refuse to help us. Let’s go!”

* * *

Something extremely cold was shaking her. ‘The snowmen are attacking!’ Orihime thought with her usual logic and forced herself to wake up, ready to fight the evil carrot-nosed, bucket-wearing, broom-wielding monsters.

“Finally, you are awake!” the snowman- no, snow _woman_ exclaimed.

Inoue stared in confusion at her enemy who looked somewhat familiar. Very familiar, actually…

“Hey, Orihime, are you alright?”

The concerned voice had finally registered in her mind, and the bright-haired girl nearly facepalmed at her own stupidity. “Rukia?” she asked weakly. “Why are you in Yugo no Bankai?”

“I woke up like that,” the other girl responded. “No idea what happened, but there has to be some reason for it, so until I find it, I’m not going to power down.”

Inoue nodded in agreement and glanced around. Just where were they? It was a small forest clearing, the tree trunks blocking sight in all directions. She looked up at the clear blue sky. Maybe if she went above the trees…?

It seemed that the Shinigami had followed her train of thought. “I couldn’t see anything from up there either, just this forest. The only thing I know is we are somewhere in Rukongai.” At the confused look from the human, the youngest Kuchiki explained, “The Living World does not have this many spirit particles and it’s obviously not Hueco Mundo, so we have to be in Soul Society. There are no forests in Seireitei, so we must be in Rukongai, not that it helps our case much. This place is enormous.”

“So we are lost?” Orihime whispered sadly but quickly perked up, “Then let’s become _un_ lost!”

* * *

There was something lying across his chest, Chad noted absentmindedly and opened his eyes. He found himself on the stone floor of a cave, and the thing on top of him was- actually, he had no idea what it was. It was long, thin, and segmented. The gray segments looked similar to vertebrae and felt like bone to the touch. To his left they kept getting smaller and the strange thing was only a foot long. To his right though the segments were slowly growing bigger and the snake-like thing curved away from his field of vision, so he couldn’t see where it ended.

Chad wrapped both hands around the strange thing and tugged it slightly. The segments separated with ease but a few seconds later glowed with red light that snapped them back together. Interesting. He tugged them apart again and watched as the thing repaired itself. Something was very familiar about it, but for the life of him, Chad couldn’t remember what.

As he separated the segments for the third time, the young man gripped them firmly keeping the vertebrae from reattaching. The thing twitched.

“Let go of my tail, dammit!” the irritated voice snarled and Chad was suddenly face-to-maw with enormous snake skull. The jaws snapped open at almost 180-degree angle revealing the familiar tattooed face inside the skull-like helmet.

“Renji,” the gentle giant greeted finally recognizing the Yugo no Bankai form of his friend.

“My tail, Sado,” the Shinigami growled.

Chad lowered his gaze to where he was still holding the segments separated. Feeling slightly foolish, he let go of them. The red reiatsu threads rejoined the disconnected part of the tail with the main body, and Renji rubbed the abused segments glowering at Chad with suspicion. “The hell was that for?”

The embarrassed blush went almost unnoticed on the dark skin. “I apologize. I don’t think I was completely awake.”

“Huh. At least you are awake _now_ ,” the Shinigami paused. “…Or are you?”

The tall man stood up and shook his head slightly trying to clear his thoughts then nodded decisively, “I am.”

“Good for you,” the redhead said coiling his long snake-like body. “Because we are in Hueco Mundo. Menos Forest, I think.”

Chad took a few seconds to process the information. “What are we doing here?” A moment later he did a double take finally noticing his own arms. “…Why am I in Fullbring?”

Renji shrugged, “Beats me.”

Silence stretched again as both young men tried to find the answers to those questions in their patchy memory. Finally the Sixth Division Lieutenant asked, “What’s the last thing that you remember?”

His companion tilted his head to the side then frowned. “Nothing much,” he admitted. “I remember the one-year anniversary of the end of the Blood War, but…”

“…But not much else, right?” Renji sighed crossing his arms in irritation. “I remember that we were celebrating. Did we honestly get so drunk that we can’t even remember anything?”

“It could have happened, but I don’t feel hangover. And it doesn’t explain why we are here of all places.”

“…Drunk people do stupid things?” the currently snake-like Shinigami offered.

Chad thought this over then shrugged, “Until we have a better explanation.”

Renji tapped his bone armor with one claw, deep in thought. “How do we get out of here? I don’t remember where the passage from here to the desert is, and Senkaimon won’t open in this place.”

“We search,” was the only answer that Chad offered before he vanished in a green flash of Bringer Light. Yelling angrily for his friend to wait, Renji snapped the jaws of his helmet shut and followed with Shunpo.

* * *

‘This is not Hell,’ was the first thought of a Demon by the name of Kokuto. His second thought was, ‘What the fuck is this thing?’

The thing in question was big, shapeless, and _moving_. The former Togabito warily reached for his sword. Whatever it was, the thing was alive (for a given definition of life that included spirits like him) and seemed dangerous with those tentacles, claws, fangs, and who knew what else. Holding the wickedly curved blade in both hands and trying his best to ignore the pounding headache, Kokuto slowly inched away, ready to escape at a moment’s notice. The shadow travel was hard, especially in the state he was in, but if worse came to worst…

“And what are you going to do with that sword?” the thing asked derisively in a vaguely familiar voice.

Startled, Kokuto lost his grip on the shadows and nearly stumbled cursing his current weakness.

“Oi, don’t tell me you don’t recognize me!” the thing yelled indignantly and started shrinking quickly taking on a humanoid form.

The thing became a white-clad man with two swords at his waist and four tawny wings sticking from his back. The writhing purple tendrils grew from his wrists and a layer of glistening glass-like substance covered his feathers and black hair. His legs below knees took the shape similar to the tree roots.

“Wait, Kaien?” the surprised Demon asked lowering his weapon.

“And you know _so many_ shapeshifters… Of course it’s me!” his companion snapped. ‘You moron,’ went unheard but remained almost tangible in the air.

The former Togabito shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs that seemed to cling to his mind but groaned at the sudden wave of dizziness. “What happened?” he bit out.

The Espada ran his clawed hand through his needle-like hair with a scowl. “Why are you asking me? I don’t even remember how we met!”

“What do you mean you can’t remember?” the white-haired man growled. “We-” he paused as his eyes widened. “…But I _know_ you!”

The shapeshifter studied the odd form that his legs chose to take and tried to transform them into normal shape. After several unsuccessful attempts he turned his attention to the Demon. “Same here. I know who you are and I know that I trust you, but anything else…”

Kokuto dragged his hand over his face covered with a black scarf, “Great. What _do_ you know then?”

The Arrancar had finally managed to get rid of his wings though one of his arms became similar to a serrated scythe of a praying mantis. Kaien scowled at his uncooperative body. At least his legs looked normal now. “I know that we are in the Living World,” he said gesturing at the nearby buildings and the people who were unable to see the two spirits, “but I have no idea where exactly. Doesn’t look like Karakura though.”

The Espada paused then continued, “We should find someone who knows what happened, so…” with one swipe of his hand he opened a rip in space, “…Where to? Seireitei? Las Noches?”

The Demon narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “Are you sure you can direct it?”

Kaien gave him a withering look and surreptitiously tried to get rid of his tentacles. He almost succeeded too. “Of course I can!”

“Just like you can change your shape?” Kokuto deadpanned with a pointed look at his blade-like arm.

The white-clad Arrancar bristled, in his irritation somehow managing to return to human form completely. “I’ll show you!” he snapped lunging at the Demon.

Still feeling more than a bit dizzy, the former resident of Hell dimension was unable to dodge and yelled indignantly as his companion hauled him into the Garganta. “Where are you dragging me, you bastard?”

“Menos Forest!”

“What?” Kokuto yelped. “Why there?”

He was answered with a wide grin. “Because I’m hungry, of course. We are going Hollow-hunting!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Yugo' (融合) means 'Fusion', I'll explain it in future chapters in more detail. It is much weaker than normal Bankai but has several benefits which I'll also explain later. In this form Renji looks like more humanoid Hihio Zabimaru only with tail instead of legs. Rukia can still freeze things but her touch is not deadly, hence why she could touch Orihime
> 
> 'Togabito' (咎人) means 'sinner' (literary 'criminal'). They are the souls that are too evil for Soul Society so they get sent to Hell. Kokuto was a character from the fourth movie 'Hell Chapter' (which is not necessary to understand the story).


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2: Talking to the Voices in Your Head **

Each burst of Sonido caused a painful stab of headache, and Ichigo glowered jealously at Ishida and his floating platform of reishi. He briefly toyed with the idea of using a similar method of transportation, but he had always sucked at reishi manipulation-

 **‘Or Quincy powers in general,’** Tensa oh-so-helpfully added from within his mind.

-And considering that right now he couldn’t even _seal his Resurreccion_ , it was better to stick with tried and true flash step. …Maybe he should try to power down first? Perhaps without horns his head would feel less heavy…

 **‘When did you become such a pansy, King?’** the annoying voice of his Hollow snickered.

‘Somebody, _please_ , shut him up!’ Ichigo growled fighting the urge to descend into his Inner World and throw a couple of Ceros at the albino. ‘I’m _so_ not in the mood for your comments right now, Tensa!’

 **‘Jeez, what’s your problem?’** the Hollow grumbled then yelped, **‘Hey, lemme go!’**

 _‘Ichigo asked to shut you up,’_ a sly voice of his Zanpakuto commented.

 **‘Like hell you will!’** he snarled back.

At the following sounds of a scuffle and things breaking Kurosaki growled, ‘Don’t you dare destroy anything there! I don’t need any more of a headache!’

He was answered with the sound of swords clashing, glass breaking, and the whine of a charging Cero. However, the fight quickly ended with twin yelps of surprise and vehement cursing from the Hollow. Curious as to what – and how – could stop the avatars of his Shinigami and Hollow powers – though he had his suspicions – Ichigo concentrated and felt the time slow down before it stopped completely. With practiced ease he stepped into his Inner World and glanced around.

The destruction that greeted him inside his mindscape was an unwelcome sight though the one Ichigo was expecting. Unexpected was the state the spirits of his Zanpakuto and Hollow were in. Both were pinned to the side of the building with glowing arrows that pierced through their white clothing. The trapped spirits were glaring daggers at Zangetsu but the unflappable Quincy was not affected in the slightest though he had yet to lower his bow.

Ichigo shook his head at the scene and thanked the dark man for stopping the two before addressing them with a scowl, “The hell is wrong with you?”

 _“Too many things to count,”_ the Zanpakuto said dryly with a look at the Hollow.

 **“Pot, ever looked in the mirror?”** he snapped back.

Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose. “Honestly, I expected this from Tensa…” The albino rolled his eyes. “…But you? Why the hell are you fighting when our mindscape is already half-destroyed?!”

The Zanpakuto spirit nearly said something like ‘He started it!’ but bit his tongue realizing how lame of a comeback it was. Instead he tried to look as composed as usual – not an easy task considering the circumstances – and replied in a measured tone, _“It is quite possible that the damage done to our mind is affecting my judgment…”_

The Hollow’s cough sounded suspiciously like ‘bullshit’.

 _“…And it is impossible to exist in such close proximity to Tensa without at least_ trying _to punch him,”_ he finished with a smirk.

Ichigo burst into laughter, and even Zangetsu was hiding a smile. The Hollow groaned at their reaction, **“Feeling the love already.”**

With a smirk the embodiment of Ichigo’s Quincy powers let his bow and arrows dissipate thus freeing the two spirits. The Zanpakuto dusted his clothes off then hid his long-nailed hands in his pockets assuming his usual stance that practically oozed with arrogance. The Hollow scowled at him and sat cross-legged on the ground throwing stray locks of his waist-length hair behind his back.

Ichigo shook his head at the antics of his companions, the previous irritation all but forgotten, but frowned at the destruction surrounding them. Under his gaze the broken glass and metal moved by itself, repairing the side of a skyscraper his inner spirits had damaged until it was as good as new. It was a natural process and one he was quite accustomed to, considering how often the fights broke out. Quite worrying though was the fact that the damage caused by the mysterious event had yet to be restored.

Jumping to stand high in the air, Ichigo took a better look at his mindscape. As usual, upon entering his Inner World he landed right in the middle of it. Turning his back to the urban landscape that was unquestionably _his_ , the orange-haired young man looked at the three quarters of his mindscape that belonged to the other residents of his soul.

To his right the buildings gave way to trees, the lush green forest where Zangetsu preferred to dwell stretching on to the horizon. To his left were the white desert sands and crystal trees similar to those outside his body. The Hollow had always liked the simple landscape of Hueco Mundo. Right in front of him the calm blue ocean stretched out with broken columns his Zanpakuto liked rising from the water.

However those parts were damaged as well. Long gashes carved into the desert dunes had yet to fill with sand, many of the trees in the forest were broken as if after the storm, and the ocean was impossibly shallow, the low-tide exposing the floor.

Ichigo shook his head. He’d seen far worse destruction after their training fights, so why was it refusing to heal…?

The smooth voice of his Zanpakuto interrupted his thoughts, _“The damage was done on a much deeper level. What you see here are the symptoms, not the disease.”_

“Can you repair it?”

_“While my abilities include manipulation of the mind, it is preferable to let it heal on its own. My invasion of your memories may prove to be detrimental.”_

“ _Our_ memories,” Ichigo corrected testily but slumped in defeat. “Fine, I guess I’ll just have to wait.” This strange amnesia was getting on his nerves and frankly he was beginning to worry. He knew how powerful they were, so what in the world could do such a number on them?

Shoving those thoughts away as he remembered his other problem, Kurosaki vanished in a blur of Shunpo reappearing beside his bleached white reflection. “Oi, Tensa, get rid of our Resurreccion.”

The Hollow smirked, **“And you can’t do this yourself why exactly?”**

“You know damn well why!” Ichigo snarled.

The usual grin widened. **“Pansy. Can’t even deal with a little headache, ne, King?”** Tensa ducked the punch thrown his way and let out a theatrical sigh. **“Well, since you ask _so_ nicely…”**

Ichigo felt the flow of Hollow energy lessen considerably as Tensa retracted his powers. He knew that the moment he returned to his body, the Resurreccion would crumble. With a nod of thanks to the albino, he glanced around. Something else was missing…

As his gaze fell on the shadow of a building, Ichigo nearly jumped. “What about _him_?”

“Still asleep,” Zangetsu replied from his usual perch on a flagpole.

The young hybrid sighed in relief but frowned immediately running one hand through his long orange hair. How in the world could he forget about the newest resident of his soul…? As he paid his surroundings a little more attention, he could see the shadows that had nothing to do with any source of light. The tendrils of darkness crept across the streets, wound around the trees both normal and those made of stone alike, and sank into the water stretching over the ocean floor.

Reaching to the nearest shadow, Ichigo let his fingers brush the darkness. The power hidden within it felt sluggish, unlike the strong currents his Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy aspects carried. Of course, it was no surprise that the avatar of his Demonic powers was deep in slumber. Wait, _why_ exactly was it so…?

With dawning horror Ichigo realized that he had no idea whatsoever why his Demonic self was so exhausted. He couldn’t even remember how he got those powers in the first place! A quick question to his companions confirmed that they had no idea either. With a deep frown Ichigo pressed his hand to the inky blackness. He was sure that the memory loss was somehow connected to his Demonic powers and, by extension, to Hell but…

_/”Scream for me, little boy,” the female voice giggled. “I want everyone to hear what happens to those who dare to oppose me.”/_

What. The fuck. Was _that_?

With wide eyes Ichigo jerked back, almost stumbling, but the shadows clung to his skin carrying the disjointed memories within.

_/The light burned through his skin, and her smile turned sadistic at the sight of his exposed bones./_

Who was that woman?

_/”Isn’t it so very fitting for the Goddess of light to destroy the Demons of darkness?”/_

Goddess..?

 _/”I am the Sun, little boy, the Sun of the damned, and this entire world is_ mine _!”/_

A kick to the back sent him tumbling, but at least it stopped the disgusting voice. Drawing sharp breaths Ichigo tried to calm down and raised his head looking at the concerned faces of his companions.

 **“Feeling better, King?”** Tensa, the one to shake him out of the strange trance, had asked.

“No,” he rasped. “Who was she?”

The three spirits had free access to his thoughts as usual, but the voice and the smile of the mystery woman – / _enemy, enemy, she was a monster wrapped in sunlight/_ – were not familiar to them. It seemed that the only one who held the memories was the avatar of his Demonic powers… who was also very inconveniently asleep.

Ichigo gritted his teeth and reached into the darkness again. He _needed_ those memories…!

_/The skeletal monsters moved through the buildings like ghosts they definitely weren’t./_

Kushanada, Hell’s Will, the sentinels and guardians of Hell dimension. The knowledge was dry and empty. He couldn’t remember where he got it, how he learned about…

_/The orange lava coalesced into a familiar figure. The man grinned, “Told you, we just get reborn again and again.”/_

The souls too evil for Soul Society were sent to Hell where they would suffer for eternity. Togabito, sinners, trapped in a vicious cycle of death and rebirth, chained to the dimension itself, it would never let them go…

No, not true, not anymore.

_/The chains broke, and the startled man looked in wonder at the shadows coalescing at his feet. “…How?”/_

Those souls who truly repented for their sins would lose their chains and become Demons. And once they died, the Demons would be reincarnated as humans in the World of the Living. Then why were there only sinners in Hell…?

 _/”They are here, little boy. Every Demon that stood against me, that is, all of them, is here.” With angelic smile that was rotten to the core she patted the large crystal filled with swirling darkness. “And of course, I can’t let any more of them to be born, now, can I? The Togabito will stay the way they are now. Why should such a silly thing like ‘repentance’ give them freedom? No, no, little boy, they are_ mine _now, and_ I _decide what to do with them.”/_

Who _was_ that woman? The name was just on the tip of his tongue. If only he could remember…

_/”I swear, I will stop you!”_

_“As if you can, little boy! I am the Goddess!”/_

What happened…? He had to remember…!

_/The crystal shattered under his sword, and the inky shadows pouring out of it threatened to drown him./_

Was _this_ how he got the powers of a Demon…?

_/”No, you cannot stop me! I am the Goddess of the Sun! You can’t destroy my light!”_

_“If you are the light, then I’ll gladly become the darkness to stop you.”/_

The flow of memories finally ceased, and Ichigo fell to his knees trembling slightly. Damn, was that all? He was left with more questions than answers. Why was he in Hell? Who was the Sun Goddess? Was she the reason for his memories being so screwy?

…Did he manage to defeat her?

The last question was the one he needed to find the answer to the most. The mystery woman was insane. What if she was still out there somewhere….?

“We will find out, Ichigo,” the embodiment of his Quincy powers said placing a hand on his shoulder. With a sigh Ichigo wrapped the dark cloak fluttering on nonexistent wind around himself and pressed his back to the old man’s legs. He stayed like this for several minutes trying to put his rampant emotions under control. Finally the young hybrid rose to his feet sending a feeling of gratitude to Zangetsu and turned to the other two spirits standing nearby.

 _“I will start the search immediately,”_ his Zanpakuto assured. _“However, I must warn you that you might experience flashbacks of any memory I touch. Also, you have to refrain from calling upon my powers as it might hinder my work.”_

Ichigo nodded, “Sure. We are in Hueco Mundo anyway. It’s easier to rely on Hollow abilities here.”

Tensa looked at him with seriousness, the usual smirk gone, **“My power is yours, partner, you know it.”**

With a slight smile he nodded, “I know.”

Without further ado Ichigo stepped back into his body and shook his head getting the dissolving pieces of his mask out of his annoyingly long orange mane. At first he tried to cut off his hair to the more manageable length, but every time he entered Resurreccion it always grew back, so later he just stopped caring and got used to it. Unfortunately, he had much bigger problems now than his untamable hair.

“Ishida. What do you know about Hell and Sun Goddess?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mystery woman is an OC but she is evil and will be killed with extreme prejudice, so don't worry about her becoming a Sue.


	3. Chapter 3

** Interlude 1: Meaningless/Meaningful Names **

The name didn't fit the Hollow at all, Ichigo decided. There was nothing heavenly about Tensa, and chains were certainly not involved. And yet, the albino continued to cling to the ill-fitting name for some reason. The same could be said about Zangetsu. While the avatar of his Quincy powers certainly looked the part of a 'Slaying Moon' with the glowing crescent of his bow against the fluttering cloak as dark as the starless sky, it didn't explain why the man chose not to use his own name. And he did have a name – Juha-something – Ichigo overheard it once, so why…?

He knew, of course, that both spirits would have been – _should have been_ – his Zanpakuto with ‘Tensa Zangetsu’ as the name of their Bankai, but he had a different Zanpakuto now, and that name was meaningless, so why were they still holding onto it?

From the closed expressions and smoothly redirected conversations, and the few clipped sentences he managed to wring from the two spirits, Ichigo understood that both Quincy and Hollow hated the time when they were bound by his father’s Shinigami power, no matter how necessary it was for their survival. So when the rogue Zanpakuto joined their soul, the two rather happily dumped all that power on the newcomer. But if neither Tensa nor Zangetsu wanted to be a Zanpakuto in the first place, why did they choose to keep the name? Was it some sort of acknowledgment? Were they just used to that name or simply liked it…?

All the times Ichigo asked them, the answers he got were annoyingly confusing. They said it was a reminder. A reminder of _what exactly_ , he wasn't sure about, but the two spirits refused to explain, saying things about trust and how Zanpakuto would always come to their Shinigami’s help. Which made little sense, because as far as Ichigo was concerned, the Hollow and Quincy were still his Zanpakuto in all but name, and _of course_ he trusted them. He didn’t need to be reminded of that…!

…It would be years before Ichigo finally understood – the reminder wasn’t for him, it was for them.

* * *

** Chapter 3: In the Depths of Your Soul **

“Snacks!” Kaien cheered at the sight of skyscraper-tall Gillians and immediately launched himself at the huge Hollows.

Despite being mindless, the low-level Menos could recognize danger quite well and tried to escape as fast as their lumbering bodies allowed. Unfortunately for them, the former Shinigami was _very_ hungry and _very_ fast. Numerous tentacles covered with claws and mouths burst from his sleeves and tore into giant black-clothed bodies, ripping apart and devouring the Hollows.

In a few seconds there was no trace of six Menos Grande left.

As his two Zanpakuto dispatched of the eaten Hollows in his Inner World with practiced ease, Kaien felt all the souls accumulated by Menos leave his body in a cloud of reishi until only a fraction of their power remained. He left Nejibana and Glotoneria to sort through powers and memories he gathered from his impromptu snack, though he doubted any of the Hollows that made up the Gillians had any useful abilities he didn’t already have. Then again, you could never know. Stranger things happened, and even the most seemingly useless powers could come in handy…

The dark-haired Shiba frowned at the couple of tentacles sticking awkwardly from his sleeve and a patchwork of scales and feathers on his skin. It seemed like his shapeshifting was still out of whack. That never happened before, and the only reason he could think of was- okay, he had no idea. Even years back when he was still a Gillian and his body shifted into default form under the influence of sunlight he never actually got stuck. So what the hell? He was a Vasto Lorde for crying out loud! And he thought he had complete control over his powers…

“Quit spacing out!” his Demonic companion yelled hitting the Arrancar over the head. “You got your damn food, now get us out of here!”

“Why?” the former Shinigami asked. “I like this place.”

Kokuto let out a strangled sound, “Hello! Amnesia? Mysterious circumstances? Ring any bells? I thought we were going to find someone who knows what happened, not stay here with Hollows as company!”

Kaien looked around, “No Hollows here right now… Well, except me, that is. And I’ve got an idea. Gimme a second…” With those words he slipped into his Inner World knowing that truly only a moment would pass outside.

* * *

With a loud splash the white-clad Espada fell into the ocean of his soul, sinking under the waves. A frown marred his face at the sight of a beautiful coral reef now mangled and eroded. He swam closer and ran his hand over the discolored structure. It didn’t look like the damage from the usual fights between his companion spirits…

 _“That’s because it isn’t,”_ a young female voice snorted behind his back.

“Reading my thoughts, Nejibana?” he asked turning around.

 _“As if there is much to read,”_ the green-haired woman who looked barely out of her teens scoffed crossing her arms contemptuously.

“Aww, I’m hurt,” Kaien whined with his usual goofy grin.

 **“No, you are not,”** another voice said. **“But you soon will be.”**

“You too, Glotoneria?” the Arrancar cried. “OH, MIYAKO, WHY ARE MY ZANPAKUTO SO CRUEL…?” he wailed earning smacks from both women. “…ALWAYS HITTING AND GANGING UP ON ME…!”

 _“Quit yelling, you moron!”_ Nejibana shrieked trying to hit him with her long tail.

Kaien dodged still sobbing theatrically. “…AND ALL THIS ABUSE…!”

 **“Shut up!”** Glotoneria growled hitting her wielder over the head. **“Isshin’s stupidity is contagious, and if I ever see you in his company again, so help me…!”**

Of course, this led to even more tears and wailing that he ‘is not allowed to visit his dear uncle, why, oh, why are you so cruel?’

After the brief scuffle where the two spirits tried to beat some sense into him, Kaien turned serious once again. He swam to the bottom of the ocean and dove into the dark crevice half-hidden between sharp rocks. With a worried glance at each other, the two Zanpakuto followed him into the depth of their shared consciousness.

Nejibana twisted her lithe form, sliding between the stone ledges. The last flashes of sunlight that somehow reached underwater reflected off her glittering aquamarine dress that didn’t quite cover the full length of her scaled serpentine tail. Intent blue eyes followed every move of her wielder as they descended into the darkness though his white-clad form was becoming harder and harder to discern. Soon she lost the track of time as it seemed they had been descending for eternity. She felt Glotoneria's presence nearby, but the other Zanpakuto was almost invisible in the darkness with her black hair and dark violet clothing. Both stayed silent feeling no need for words as they felt each other's worry. Of course, the easy companionship they had now was a far cry from their rivalry at the very beginning.

The two spirits didn't get along very well at first, their stubborn possessiveness souring any sort of relationship, though they did come to an understanding after a while. Kaien hated their constant fights, and if there was one thing that both Nejibana and Glotoneria had agreed upon right away, it was that they both cared about their wielder. As such, they kept to their sides of the mindscape, deliberately not paying attention to each other and talking only if spoken to, though that stalemate was broken quite soon.

During his time as Noveno Espada, stuck near the one person he hated with all his soul and still not strong enough to do anything about it, Kaien needed all the support he could get. He stayed in the darkness of his quarters, hid his face under the mask not only from sunlight but from his so-called 'comrades' as well, and spent more time inside his Inner World then outside because it took every shred of control from all three of them to not attack Aizen, even though their instincts rather loudly yelled that they had no chance of defeating the bastard. And yet, even that horrible situation had a silver lining – the three of them became much closer to each other than they ever thought possible…

Shaking off the memories, Nejibana noticed that they finally reached their destination. The pitch-black darkness was offset by the eerie glow of seaweed that grew from the rocky bottom of the crevice and yet did nothing to make it easier to see. Glotoneria was a silent shadow hovering nearby, the tails of her long dress swaying slightly like dark violet tentacles .

Kaien stopped, his feet almost touching the ocean floor, and glanced back at his companions. He did not want to be there, in a place where all the feelings and memories of his victims lurked.

It was the curse of his special ability. While he got rid of all the souls he ate, letting them pass on to Soul Society, parts of them remained behind. Their powers, skills, memories, feelings… All of them stayed inside him. He was in no danger of being taken over, but the remnants of so many different personalities could quite easily drive him insane. At first it was hard to carve out his identity from the sea of memories, pushing the rest to the bottom of his mind, and even now his personality was a bit… slippery. Not quite 'Kaien', but close enough that the difference shouldn't matter... Unless he let the dregs of his soul rise and drown him.

Usually, he could quite easily access the memories without going down there, but since the mysterious event messed it up somehow, he had to search the very bottom of his soul.

With a scowl Kaien knelt on the ocean floor and dug his fingers into the sand that felt more like tar, crawling up his arms and threatening to drag him down. Thankfully, he had quite a lot of experience dealing with the stuff, so he shook off the viscous liquid and the echoes of madness within, grasping the memories hidden underneath. He quickly dismissed those that belonged to the Hollows he ate and concentrated on his own…

His life flashed before his eyes – his crazy family, Shinigami academy, Miyako (there was no pain, just dull ache as he remembered his wife), Ukitake, Rukia… His fight and fusion with Metastacia, his death (or what he thought was his death at that moment), reestablishing control, Hollow hunting… Getting eaten by Aaroniero and his subsequent takeover… Long years as an Espada waiting for an opportunity to kill Aizen (he was so glad that the bastard was dead and gone!), busting out captured Orihime, eating Zommari (now _that_ was satisfying, not to mention he finally managed to become an Adjuchas and lose his weakness to sunlight)… Seeing Rukia again (it took quite some time to rid her of all that stupid guilt she carried), finding out he had three cousins now… The fight in Fake Karakura, capturing Baraggan in Zommari's stolen Amor and eating him, becoming a Vasto Lorde… Trapping Starrk and Lilynette (one of the very few Arrancar he did not want to kill) and getting them out of the fight… The end of the Winter War, getting to know the new members of his family… Meeting his brother and sister again…

The memories continued through the rebuilding of Las Noches with remaining Espada to the truce with Seireitei to the war against Wandenreich to the defeat of the Quincy empire to-

* * *

“Oi, you okay there?” Kokuto asked as the former Shinigami returned from his Inner World.

“Y-yeah, sure, I’m al- alright, yeah, don’t- don’t worry,” Kaien managed to say through chattering teeth. This way of searching through his soul had always left him feeling ill as all the unwanted memories and feelings rose to the forefront of his mind.

“Sure looks like it,” the Demon said staring with disbelief at the pale and slightly trembling man before him. “Did it work? …Whatever you wanted to do?”

Kaien dragged one hand through his black hair, “Yes, I- I remember now… We have to find the others! And quickly!”

The white-haired Demon frowned, “Why? What’s so important?”

“Explanations later! Can you find the others through shadows?”

Kokuto threw his hands in the air in exasperation, “ _What_ others? I don’t remember any-fucking-thing!”

“Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Orihime, Chad. They were with us when-” the Arrancar paused. “Can you find them?”

“When _what_? What the hell did you remember?”

“Kokuto! We have to find them! …Please.”

The Demon sighed shaking his head, “…Fine.”

With some effort he reached into the shadows letting intangible threads of darkness slither over his body. Closing his eyes, the man concentrated. The shadows whispered in his ears and tugged at his mind showing him the images of the dark-skinned giant and the snake-like Shinigami rushing between the stone trees.

“Chad and Renji are here,” Kokuto said, his form draped in shadows. “And I think Ichigo and Ishida are here somewhere too. The girls… Can’t feel them.”

“Which means they are not in Hueco Mundo. Damn,” Kaien shook his head then materialized two ribbons out of thin air. One was bright red and the other white with grayish tint. “We better start moving. Can you keep up?”

The Demon growled with annoyance and slid into the darkness becoming a shadow himself. “Just show me the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case someone had forgotten, 'Tensa Zangetsu' (天鎖斬月) means 'Heaven Chain Slaying Moon'
> 
> As far as I understood, in the manga, the Hollow merged with Zanpakuto, while the Quincy side was suppressing it. Here both Hollow and Quincy were bound by Shinigami power and warped into the shape of Zanpakuto. Neither were very happy about it but couldn't do anything. Also, Ichigo trusted them both, but they didn't quite trust themselves, knowing that they had... issues, what with one being a Hollow (if not quite a normal one) and the other a Quincy (and the enemy of both Shinigami and Hollows).
> 
> The ribbons are 'reiraku' or 'spirit ribbons' - visual manifestation of reiatsu. As I remember, Shinigami's are colored red, while human's are white. Not sure if it's canon or fanon, but I think that the Hollow's reiraku are black. Since Chad is a Fullbringer, human with Hollow taint, I made his ribbon grayish in color.


	4. Chapter 4

** Interlude 2: Not a Miracle **

Kukaku had always known that miracles were impossible which was why she didn’t believe the rumors of her brother being back. Kaien was gone, he couldn’t return from beyond the grave... And yet the fragile hope tugged her to Seireitei in the aftermath of the Winter War. She had to see with her own eyes who the man claiming to be her brother really was, because he couldn’t be Kaien she remembered.

When she first saw him, he was wearing the same white clothes that Aizen’s army did, and his reiatsu felt Hollow and _wrong_ , and not at all like her memory told her. Yet he smiled and laughed, and was so glad to see her that it seemed like a miracle… Only miracles were impossible, and Kukaku knew she was right when he flinched from sunlight (“Old habits,” he laughed with a rueful grin), when he stared into the distance, still and silent, shadows of old grief and sorrow flitting across his face, when he casually changed shape only to quickly shift back with expression of guilt and fear as if he did something wrong…

Kaien she remembered was gone, but it was alright. After all, miracles were impossible. This Kaien was a different man now, haunted by his past, uncomfortable in his own skin, but it was alright too, because he was still her brother, half-Hollow or not, and after all this time he was back.

* * *

** Chapter 4: The New Kind of Normalcy **

Funny, how the life could change becoming something he would have never imagined even in his wildest dreams. Case in point – rushing through the white desert of a different world with a Hollow at his side. Well, perhaps not quite Hollow, since Kurosaki was also Shinigami, Quincy, and human with a bit of a Demon thrown into the mix, but it did nothing to alleviate the sheer weirdness of the situation.

…The strangest thing was probably the fact that _this_ was the new ‘normal’ for him.

Ah, the beautiful insanity of his life – getting dragged into the afterlife while still being alive to save a Death God from death (and that was just the beginning of his troubles!), fighting a whole lot of weirdos and becoming frien- _acquaintances_ with most of them, running back and forth between dimensions, seeing his hometown swapped with the fake replica… Aizen – the monster butterfly (though it was funny only afterwards), Kurosaki losing his powers, albeit temporarily (damn Hogyoku and damn Urahara for creating the thing in the first place!), then the whole mess with Xcution… Just thinking about the group of Fullbringers left a bad taste in his mouth, though Ginjo’s expression when Kurosaki went Segunda Etapa on him was highly amusing. Giving Tsukishima a taste of his Vollstandig-powered Licht Regen was quite satisfying as well…

Oh yes, his life was quite an unusual one, though he had to admit that even before meeting Kurosaki and his merry band of lunatics he could hardly be called ‘normal’. Not by any standards which did not include seeing ghosts and conjuring weapons out of thin air. And, of course, the current situation – such as being stranded who knew where, who knew why with no idea what happened – was simply the latest mishap in the series of unfortunate events called ‘life’. His life, to be exact.

Yet he couldn’t help but wonder just what in the world did Kurosaki _do_ to drag them into their current predicament. And it was Kurosaki’s fault, no mistake there. It was _always_ his fault, since his ability to attract trouble was legendary.

Ishida glanced at the orange-haired Hollow. It was always hard to guess what went through that empty head of his, and Uryu was not an expert on idiotic hybrids anyway, though considering the amount of morons he had to deal with on a daily basis (Kurosaki’s fault _again_ , those were _his_ friends!), he just _might_ have some idea. Besides, they had known each other for years.

With a sigh and what was most definitely _not_ a fond smile Uryu remembered meeting the source of his headaches to come for the first time.

_/The sudden roar of a Hollow was not unexpected – he did feel its reiatsu after all – but it certainly added to the sense of urgency as he ran down the street. The creature must have already found its prey. Uryu gritted his teeth. No way would he let some Hollow attack innocent people on his watch! It was the duty of a Quincy – no matter what all those arrogant Shinigami thought – to keep people safe, and he’d be damned if he failed it!_

_Bolting around the corner and into the open area, his cross at the ready on his wrist, Ishida nearly plowed into a terrified girl in a bloodstained dress who ran blindly in fear, the Chain of Fate dragging behind her. The source of her terror – a giant boar with way too many teeth – was just ahead, stomping on mangled remains of a children’s playground._

_Up close the Hollow felt strong… really strong, more than any other he ever encountered up until now, and Ishida gulped remembering the stories about Menos Grande. It… it couldn’t be true… right?/_

Uryu shook his head at the memory in self-deprecation. Just a slightly stronger Hollow then he was used to, and he was already panicking. He chuckled mirthlessly thinking what his past self’s reaction would have been if he’d ever met a Vasto Lorde. Amusing, certainly, and probably quite pathetic.

_/With effort the young Quincy steeled himself and raised his hand. He had a duty. Fear was irrelevant._

_He reached for the reishi so richly permeating the entire town of Karakura, guiding it to his cross and into the shape of a bow. His left hand tugged the bowstring, forming an arrow, and with practiced movements Ishida took aim and fired._

_The arrow impacted the Hollow’s mask, leaving only a slight crack. His eyes widened in horror. That had never happened before either!_

_The monstrous pig squealed in pain then turned to him baring its sharp teeth and charged with an angry roar._

_Uryu quickly moved out of the way and the creature ran past him, unable to maneuver in time. The Hollow dug its hooves into the ground leaving deep trails and stopped with an angry snort, slowly turning around. Ishida smirked readying another arrow. So it looked like the creature would be easy to get rid of after all._

_Arrow after arrow impacted the mask chipping it away as the giant pig tried in vain to trample the Quincy who was superior in both speed and agility, until finally the last piece was gone and the Hollow vanished into nothingness._

_“And here I thought to come and help.”_

_Ishida nearly jumped and quickly turned around at the sound of an amused voice. The speaker was a casually dressed teen about his age with vividly bright orange hair. “Who are you?” he asked suspiciously though the guy didn’t look or feel like a Shinigami. Actually, he didn’t feel like anything, not a whiff of reiatsu._

_“Kurosaki Ichigo. You?”_

_He frowned. “Ishida Uryu. What are you doing here?”_

_The newly-named Kurosaki crossed his arms. “Jeez, can’t a guy just walk down the street?” he huffed. “If you must know, I felt that Hollow and went to deal with it. Looks like you got here first, so I just waited in case you needed a backup… Oh, look, another one!”_

_Uryu had already felt a wave of Hollow reiatsu and glanced warily around, bow at the ready. A dark rip in space opened slowly, and a giant head poked out followed by a long sinuous body with numerous legs._

_“Yeesh, I hate centipedes.”_

_Ishida glanced to the side at his companion and did a double take. “Are you seriously going to fight with_ that _?!” he shouted incredulously._

_The other teen furrowed his brow looking at the brightly colored metal pipe – a piece of ruined children’s playground – in his hand. “Well, yes. Why not?”_

_The Quincy could only open and close his mouth soundlessly at the ridiculous statement. “That’s a Hollow!” he finally managed to get out. “You can’t- can’t- How is that even supposed to work?!”_

_Kurosaki shrugged. “Like this,” he said in a most matter-of-fact tone possible as the glowing blue pattern appeared on the exposed skin of his arms._

_Ishida had to gape in utter disbelief once again because he_ knew _this technique. His grandfather had showed it to him once as an example of ability even a mixed-blood Quincy had the potential to learn. But that- that was impossible! Uryu was the last Quincy! Well, there was also Ryuken but… just who the hell was that guy?!_

_“Are you a Quincy?” Ishida blurted out._

_“Who else do you think can pull off Blut Arterie?”/_

Funny, he never actually said he _was_ a Quincy or mention _what else_ he was, so it wasn’t technically a lie.  A curious little trick Kurosaki used every so often, a small reminder that he actually _could_ use his brain. Sometimes.

_/”But that’s impossible!” Ishida yelled._

_“What’s so surprising? You are a Quincy, and my mom was one too... Oh, and there is a Hollow about to attack you, by the way.”_

_To his eternal embarrassment, he actually forgot about it. Dashing to the side, Ishida let loose an arrow that missed the surprisingly quick centipede by less than an inch. It let out a screech raising the front part of its body in the air and lunged at him once again. He moved out the way quickly and the creature sprawled on the ground._

_“Shoot it!” Kurosaki yelled running to the Hollow and holding his ridiculous weapon with both hands. Or perhaps not-so-ridiculous as it turned out. He jumped on the creature’s back and brought the pipe down like a spear, piercing the slim body between the armored plates. The orange-haired teen was back on the ground before the Hollow could throw him off, its movements and shrill cries becoming more and more frantic as several arrows impacted its head._

_Ishida frowned. Once again one arrow to the mask wasn’t enough to bring the Hollow down. Just his luck. And… what the hell was Kurosaki doing?!_

_Instead of getting away from thrashing creature, he stood there ducking the flailing limbs, seemingly waiting for something. The Hollow squealed in pain and fell to the side, freezing for a moment as another arrow left a spiderweb of cracks on its mask. Seizing the opportunity, Kurosaki yanked the metal pipe out and brought it down on the head of a pathetic-looking centipede._

_The Hollow shrieked for one last time and dissolved into reishi. With a smug grin Kurosaki placed his makeshift weapon on one shoulder, looking so ridiculous that, Ishida nearly laughed out loud. “Yeah, we are awesome,” he said with a nod then threw the metal pipe away and waved his hand. “Well, I gotta go. See you around!”/_

A sudden question jolted Uryu out of his memories. “Ishida. What do you know about Hell and Sun Goddess?”

“Hell, Kurosaki?” he repeated still slightly lost in the past then smirked. “I would have thought that you at least know what Hell is, but apparently, I overestimated your intelligence.”

Surprisingly, Kurosaki wasn’t rising to the bait. “Something happened to our memories…”

“I would never have guessed, since having no idea how we got to Hueco Mundo is _not_ a big enough clue.”

Ignoring the jibe, he continued, “And it’s somehow connected to Hell and the woman called Sun Goddess. I remember that we were in Hell, or at least I was, and that woman… she was our enemy, I’m sure of it. Don’t know what happened though.”

“We were in Hell?” Ishida asked incredulously. “Are you sure you didn’t just hit your head and hallucinate it? Because I certainly remember nothing of the sort.”

“Of course you don’t remember!” Kurosaki huffed exasperatedly. “Or have you forgotten the definition of ‘amnesia’ too? Besides, I’m part-Demon now. Where do you think I got that power?”

The Quincy opened his mouth to answer then snapped it shut with audible click. He _knew_ that Kurosaki was part-Demon but he wasn’t _aware_ of it. The knowledge seemed so trivial that he didn’t even question where it came from. But now that he thought about it…

“…You weren’t,” Ishida whispered. “You weren’t a Demon in the beginning. Or when we fought Aizen. Or Yhwach. What- what happened?!”

It seemed like all energy drained from the orange-haired hybrid as he sighed heavily, “That’s something I really, really want to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never liked Fullbringer arc, never would. Also I hope that Ishida doesn't seem too weak in the flashback. Since he is about 2 years younger then his first appearance in canon, and Karakura as a highly spiritual place usually attracts rather strong Hollows, I thought he'd have slight trouble taking those Hollows down.


	5. Chapter 5

** Interlude 3: Family **

Ishida Ryuken could be described by many words – cold, distant, and heartless would probably be some of them if you asked his son. Yet no matter how emotionless he appeared from the outside, he truly did love his family. What remained of his family.

That was why he abandoned the Quincy craft and the danger that came with it, and refused to teach Uryu. Too bad that his father was more than willing. Still, he honored his son’s choices, however poor they were, letting him train and fight and years later even go to Soul Society to save a Shinigami.

Ryuken lost all hope that his son would come to his senses and willingly abandon the dangerous lifestyle of Quincy, so upon learning that Uryu started training with the Sanrei Glove, he was almost… _happy_. He knew that sooner or later Uryu would meet an opponent he wouldn’t be able to defeat. Sooner or later he would be forced to use Letzt Stil and subsequently lose his powers. Sooner or later he would be forced to lead normal, _safe_ life…

…Uryu broke the Sanrei Glove and felt the wings of pure reishi unfurl behind his back, overwhelming energy coursing through his body. “Quincy: Vollstandig.”

* * *

** Chapter 5: Dark Past, Grey Present, and the Future Is… **

Half an hour of Shunpo, but they had yet to see the edge of the forest. Rukia inhaled deeply and tried not to scowl. Even though Fusion Bankai designed by the mad genius Urahara was much less energy consuming then the normal one, it was still more than a bit tiresome, considering how much reiatsu she had to spend in order to not freeze to death. Of course, if it was necessary, she was more than capable of staying in this state for hours more, unlike the meager seconds her normal Hakka no Togame allowed.

“Let’s rest for a bit!” Rukia called out before landing on a tree branch. No need to weaken herself if they were not in a hurry (they weren’t, right?).

Orihime joined her in a second, the golden glow of the strange variation of flash step she developed dying down. “Just how big _is_ this place?” she wondered looking around curiously.

The currently white-haired Shinigami sighed, closing her eyes and letting her head rest against the tree bark. “No idea. We could be in any of the 320 districts of Rukongai. But don’t worry, sooner or later we’ll get out of here.” Rukia tried to not let the fear that was quickly becoming more and more apparent creep into her voice. They were in Soul Society, no mistake there, but… they could be in a different region altogether.

Soul Society was enormous, as big as the Living World, perhaps even bigger, but it was separated into different regions with next to no communication between them. Each region corresponded to the geographical and cultural boundaries in the World of the Living. Seireitei and Rukongai were affiliated with Japan, Olympus with Greece, Valhalla with Scandinavia… and there were so, _so_ many more districts. But unlike the human countries where the borders were easy to cross, each region was an almost separate dimension in on itself. The main way of travel between them was through the Senkaimon opened in the part of the Living World connected to it and only by Shinigami affiliated with that region. There was always Garganta, of course, but Shinigami had only recently developed the technology necessary to open it and just as recently gained the allies with Hollow powers.

Rukia desperately tried not to think about the amount of trouble they’d be in if they really were no longer in their own dimension. It would be a diplomatic nightmare, surely. And of course since both of them had amnesia, it would be a bit hard to justify their actions. The dressing down from Byakuya of ‘I’m-disappointed-in-you-that’s-not-how-Kuchiki-is-supposed-to-behave’ variety would be bad enough, but Ukitake with his ‘kicked puppy’ look and ‘how could you, Rukia, I thought you were better than that!’ speech would be ten times worse. Disappointing her Captain had always made her feel insanely guilty as if she had just murdered a dozen of tiny kittens. Even Kaien would start lecturing her too though his would be more of ‘I can’t believe you didn’t invite me!’ type.

Rukia smiled at the thought of her former superior and close friend. It was nothing short of a miracle that Kaien survived. A miracle and unbelievable willpower that let him take control of the Hollow he became, to not only survive in the harsh desert of Hueco Mundo and the despicable service to Aizen, but to remain himself throughout any hardship.

Another miracle (some might think even a bigger one) was her brother and the change he underwent in the last years, thankfully, for the better. He was still reserved and not particularly affectionate but getting on his bad side was not something she was particularly worried about. Now Rukia knew that he really cared about her. Now she wasn’t afraid.

Not like on that day.

_/The rush of familiar reiatsu made her blink in bewilderment and abruptly change direction, almost running towards its source. What were they doing in the Living World?!_

_Sure enough, there they were, the Captain and the Lieutenant of the Sixth Division standing in the middle of the empty street._

_“Nii-sama! Renji! Why are you here?” she asked surprised. Something like pain fluttered across her friend’s face and he looked away._

_“Rukia.”_

_At her brother’s voice she unconsciously stepped back. There was something in his tone that made her feel almost scared._

_“We are under the orders to arrest you. Do not resist.”_

_Rukia made another step backwards, “I… don’t understand. What’s going on?”_

_“Don’t pretend you don’t know what you’ve done!” Renji yelled. “You gave your Shinigami powers to a human!”_

_At first Rukia thought she heard him wrong, because she never did anything like that! She certainly_ intended to _, back when she was injured by a surprisingly strong Hollow, when she thought Ichigo was just a normal human, when making him a Substitute Shinigami seemed like the only option… But in the end, it wasn’t necessary!_

_“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything!” Rukia turned to her brother. “Nii-sama, what’s going on?!” It had to be a joke, something, anything…!_

_“Your lies are pointless. Central 46 has the proof of your crime, and your sentence has already been pronounced.”_

_Rukia heard but couldn’t comprehend the words. This… this couldn’t be happening…! It was a nightmare! She was going to wake up in Ichigo’s closet because it couldn’t be real! It couldn’t! Because the punishment for breaking that particular law was…_

_Numbly she watched as Renji opened a Senkaimon when a hand on her shoulder jolted her out of her stupor. “I didn’t do it! Please, Renji, nii-sama! You have to believe me, I didn’t do anything!”_

_“Lying won’t help you!” Renji cried. “And it won’t help the bastard that took your powers!”_

_“I don’t know what happened to my powers! Renji, please…!”_

_As the Shinigami Lieutenant faltered, Byakuya tightened his grip on her shoulder and pushed her towards the Senkaimon. “Enough. You must uphold the law and face the consequences of your crime.”_

_Rukia twisted out of his grip jerking back, “But I didn’t do anything!”_

_The Captain of the Sixth gave her a flat look and vanished in a blur of Shunpo carrying her inside the portal to Seireitei._

_“Let me go!” she screamed as the doors began to close._

_“What the fuck is going on here?!”_

_Rukia stopped struggling for a moment at the sound of the familiar voice, “Ichigo!”_

_The doors paused then opened fully as Renji growled and stepped outside the Senkaimon. “So_ he _is the human that took your powers?!”_

_“He didn’t! Renji, please, leave him alone!” she begged. “It’s not his fault…!”_

_That only made the red-haired Lieutenant angrier. “Why are you trying to protect this human?! He took your powers! It’s his fault you are-” he choked, unable finish the sentence. “I’ll make him pay!”_

_And with his sword drawn, he lunged at Ichigo ready to kill him, but the strike was stopped suddenly by a glowing blue blade._

_“Like hell you will!” Ichigo growled holding the reishi construct with both hands. “Let Rukia go!”_

_“No! You stole her power, it’s all your fault!”_

_“What?! I didn’t steal anything! I’m a Quincy, why the hell would I need a power of a Shinigami?”_

_Unable to cut through the reishi sword, Renji jumped back, turning his Zanpakuto sideways and running his hand over the flat of the blade. “Howl, Zabimaru!”_

_Ichigo narrowed his eyes ready to take the fight up a level as the pattern of Blut Arterie appeared on his skin. “I don’t know who the hell you are,” he growled parrying the blow of a suddenly lengthened chain-sword. “But I. Didn’t. Steal. Anything!”_

_“Rukia had broken the law by giving her powers to you,” the Shinigami Captain still holding his sister captive inside the Senkaimon said._

_“I didn’t!” she cried trying to break out of his grip. “Nii-sama, please, believe me…!”_

_“Your lies are useless. Captain Aizen had provided the necessary proof of your crime.”_

_“So you are going to believe some fucker instead of your own sister?!” Ichigo yelled in rage, ducking another blow and slicing open his opponent’s shoulder. “What kind of piece of shit brother does this?!”_

_The noble gave him a disapproving look, “I see that you still try to keep the innocent act.”_

_“It’s not an act, you moron!” Ichigo yelled looking warily at Renji and readied himself for another attack._

_The red-haired Lieutenant was not moving, however, just standing there with a strange expression on his face. “Captain Kuchiki,” he said slowly, carefully, “What if-”_

_He didn’t finish, pinned by a cold glare from his Captain. “Are you trying to accuse another Captain of falsifying the evidence and giving the wrong testimony in the court?”_

_Renji gulped in fear, “N-no, but…!”_

_“Why the fuck no? You have no trouble accusing your own sister of lying!” Ichigo yelled forgetting he was in the middle of the fight. Not that Renji was very keen on continuing it either, too busy fighting his own rising doubts._

_“Nii-sama…” Rukia whispered for the last time knowing her pleas would fall on deaf ears. “Ichigo, get out of here!” she yelled instead in vain hope that he would show at least one shred of common sense._

_No such luck._

_“I’m not leaving!” he shouted stubbornly. “I don’t care who these two clowns think they are, but I’m not going to leave you with idiots who can’t even think for them-”_

_He choked mid-word as Senbonzakura pierced through his body and staggered, the reishi sword falling from his fingers and flickering out of existence. A fraction of a second later Byakuya was once again holding Rukia captive but even if she was free, she wouldn’t have been able to do anything, too shocked to move. Too slow, too weak to help._

_“Lieutenant Abarai,” her brother said evenly, and the red-haired Shinigami flash-stepped inside the Senkaimon that started closing once again._

_“Don’t you… fucking… dare!” Ichigo growled, somehow managing to step forward. The spiderweb pattern on his skin blinked and changed as he made another step._

_‘Blut Vene,’ Rukia recognized with hope. It would stop the bleeding, keep him alive. ‘Don’t die,’ she pleaded silently. ‘Not for me. I don’t deserve it.’_

_Through the quickly closing portal she saw him make a last desperate lunge. Too late. The Senkaimon was gone, and he was left in the World of the Living as she went to face her fate in the Soul Society./_

“Are you sleeping? It can’t be comfortable on this branch, you are not bird. But if you were, you would have been a really pretty one! Like a crow! Or a pigeon! Or-”

Startled, Rukia bit back a curse as she nearly fell from the tree.

“-Or a seagull, or a penguin, or-”

“I think I’m alright as a Shinigami,” she groaned rubbing her eyes as overenthusiastic Inoue continued listing various birds.

“Oh, you are awake!” Orihime chirped. “Did you have a good dream?”

A good dream? More like a nightmare, actually. Then again, everything had ended well, hadn’t it? Ichigo was alright, she was saved, Renji was her best friend once again, and Byakuya became a brother she could be proud of.

“Yeah, I did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand yes, Ishida had never used Letzt Stil, so he never lost his powers. Where the hell did he learn Vollstandig, you may ask? Well, where do you think?
> 
> The reishi sword Ichigo used is similar to the one that Old Man Quincy had in the manga. Why sword and not bow? Mostly because Ichigo utterly fails at archery (to Ishida's unending amusement). He is a melee fighter first and foremost, and for long range there is always Cero.


	6. Chapter 6

** Interlude 4: Explanations, Plans, Decisions **

Urahara blinked in surprise when his quiet evening was interrupted by a loud knocking on the door of his shop. “Now who might it be there at this time?” he asked, although he already felt the familiar reiatsu of his unexpected guests. “No need to break my door, Kurosaki-kun!” he called out. “What- What happened?!”

It was indeed Kurosaki Ichigo, barely able to stand and bleeding all over his porch, clutching the shoulders of one Ishida Uryu for support.

“Let us in,” the Quincy said shoving his way inside the shop as the former Captain stepped back in shock.

“That fucker took Rukia!” Ichigo growled stumbling slightly. “And I couldn’t stop him!”

“Oh my. You have to tell me everything, but first we have to do something about that injury.” The shopkeeper ushered them both into the spare room and helped to lower Ichigo on the small cot. “Tessai-san!”

The silent Kido master appeared almost out of nowhere and knelt at the injured hybrid’s side as Ichigo peeled back his bloodied clothes. “Damn. Why can’t high-speed regeneration work on my human body?” He drew a sharp breath and dismissed Blut Vene, knowing that it would only interfere with the healing. “Or at least Hierro,” Ichigo muttered trying to relax as the green glow of Kaido covered his wounds.

Several minutes passed in silence with Urahara lost in his thoughts, Ichigo lying motionless as Tessai applied healing Kido to him, and Ishida scowling at all three of them.

“Do you mind telling us what happened to you, Kurosaki-kun?” the shopkeeper finally asked, unable to contain his curiosity. “Or perhaps Ishida-san is willing…?”

The Quincy scowled, “I felt Shinigami reiatsu, went to check, and found this idiot. So unless he stops pretending to be asleep and _says_ something…”

Ichigo opened his eyes and Uryu was startled to see so much pain in them. “It’s my fault,” he rasped feeling a lump in his throat. “It’s my fault they took her. If I- if I didn’t lie- didn’t try to hide that- I could’ve stopped them! I could’ve-”

“Kurosaki!” Ishida snapped harshly. “Stop babbling and explain! How do you expect me to help if I have no idea what happened?”

Ichigo shut his mouth with an audible click and stared at the irritated and obviously worried brunet with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. He inhaled deeply trying to calm down and winced in pain as his wounds reminded of their existence.

“I felt Shinigami reiatsu, went to see what’s going on. There were two of them, Captain and Lieutenant. Sixth Division.”

“Kuchiki Byakuya and Abarai Renji,” Urahara supplied.

Ichigo nodded, not surprised in the slightest that the shady shopkeeper knew everyone. “Yeah... And that bastard took Rukia! Was spouting some bullshit about laws… Said I stole her powers! What the fuck?! Damn moron… Refused to believe his own sister! No, apparently fucking _Aizen_ is more trustworthy!”

“Ah. That might explain it.”

When the exiled Shinigami refused to elaborate, Ishida glared at him, “Explain what?”

“It is no surprise that Aizen could forge the evidence and manipulate Central 46. He did the same a century ago.”

“But why?” Ichigo couldn’t understand. “Why Rukia? What did she ever do to him?”

“A question to you first, Kurosaki-kun,” the former Captain said. “Since Kuchiki-san is going to be executed-”

“WHAT?!” Tessai had to force Ichigo down, lest his wounds open again. “Executed?! What the fuck?!”

Urahara tilted his head to the side. “This is the punishment for transferring Shinigami powers to a human, something you said Kuchiki-san was accused of.” Looking at the horrified young man before him, he added, “I take it, you didn’t know about this particular law?”

“But- but they can’t-! She isn’t- It’s not- WHY?!”

“What do you intend to do now that you know about it?” the shopkeeper questioned.

“I’m going after her!” Ichigo yelled. “I won’t let those bastards kill my friend!”

Urahara nodded as if he just confirmed some hypothesis. “Exactly. Aizen won’t have to go after you; you will come to Soul Society on your own.”

“What are you on? This isn’t about me! Rukia-”

“-Is an ordinary Shinigami. You, on the other hand, are a unique hybrid of four species, something he is very interested in.”

“You mean,” Ichigo asked, disbelief plain on his face, “That Rukia is just _bait_? For me?!”

Urahara shrugged spreading his arms, “It would explain a lot, wouldn’t it? Aizen had always been interested in breaking the barriers between Shinigami and Hollows, and it was his experiment that led to your rather unique situation. I have no doubts that he had been keeping an eye on you.”

Ichigo was shaking slightly, “You told me this already. You also told me that Aizen won’t do anything to make Soul Society suspicious.”

“I am not omniscient, Kurosaki-kun,” the shopkeeper sighed sadly. “I can only make an educated guess based on whatever limited knowledge I have. Perhaps it is time for him to step up his game, or you have a part to play in his plans… Who can know for certain? But what I am sure of, is what happened to Kuchiki-san is his fault. I also know that if you go after her, you will fall in his trap.”

“So what, you want me to sit on my ass and do nothing?” Ichigo growled. “It’s my fault that Rukia is- is going to- It’s my fault!”

“If I heard right, it’s Aizen’s fault,” Ishida intervened. “She didn’t do whatever she was accused of, right? So stop blaming yourself, it’s getting annoying.”

“You don’t get it!” Ichigo screamed. “I could have stopped those Shinigami! Hell, I even had Kon with me! If I left my body-”

“And did what?” Urahara interrupted sharply. “Entered Resurreccion? Do you think they would have left a high-level Hollow like you alone? Or how about Shikai, hmm? Do you think that Kuchiki Byakuya wouldn’t have recognized a Zanpakuto that once belonged to his family? And let’s not forget that Isshin broke the law marrying your mother. What do you think would've happened if anyone questioned your Shinigami powers and found out about him? Pretending to be a normal Quincy was your only option. Besides, even if you did manage to defeat a Lieutenant and a Captain – which I highly doubt – it would've definitely attracted the attention of Soul Society.”

“I won’t leave Rukia to die!” Ichigo said stubbornly pushing Tessai away and trying to stand up. “I’m going after her no matter what!”

“And how do you intend to pull it off, hmm? Any Garganta you open will be detected, so will the Senkaimon. If you breach the gates to Seireitei, every Shinigami will attack you, Captains included. And even if you do get Kuchiki-san out, what do you plan to do next? Will you spend the rest of your life hiding or will you try to fight every Shinigami in Soul Society?”

“She is innocent, isn’t she?” Uryu asked pushing his glasses up. “We just have to prove it. Problem solved.”

“Exactly!” Ichigo yelled, feeling lightheaded from the blood loss and swaying on his feet. “Rukia didn’t give her powers to me or to anyone! She still has them, right?”

“That she does,” the exiled Shinigami nodded thoughtfully. “The Gigai I gave her diminished them somewhat to speed up the healing process, but once she left it, she would have regained her reiatsu shortly. Unfortunately, the power loss is not an indicator. You will have to prove that you are not a Substitute Shinigami and do not carry her reiryoku.”

Ichigo faltered when he felt a light prod from his Zanpakuto. _‘If it comes to that, tell them the truth about me. This way no one will have to know about your father.’_

‘What about you?!’ he shouted mentally, feeling a careless shrug in response.

 _‘Lesser evil. Even if I_ am _considered a criminal, my identity is not as important as keeping your family safe.’_

‘I hope it won’t be necessary,’ Ichigo thought back then said out loud, “It won’t be a problem.”

“You are quite determined, Kurosaki-kun…” the shopkeeper hummed. “Very well. I will need a week to build a Senkaimon with matter-reishi converter… Your friends will be accompanying you, I assume?”

As Ichigo turned to Uryu ready to speak, the Quincy scowled at him, “If you say you are going alone, Kurosaki, I _will_ shoot you.”

Ichigo closed his mouth feeling equally grateful and exasperated then said, “Inoue and Chad will want to come too.”

“Excellent idea!” Urahara chimed in hiding behind his fan. “You need someone to keep an eye you, Kurosaki-kun. You are getting careless. Those wounds you’ve got, for example, are exactly where Saketsu and Hakusui are located on a Shinigami. Destroying them would have left you powerless, but your human body acted as a shield. You won’t have this privilege in the Soul Society.”

“I’m not a Shinigami, you don’t know if that will even work on me! Besides, I’ll have both Hierro and Blut Vene. Even _you_ can’t cut through both that easily!”

The scientist shook his head, “Not an option, I’m afraid. If anyone detects Hollow reiatsu, you will be hunted twice as hard. You will have to rely on other skills. Fortunately, as long as you stay away from Kuchiki Byakuya, you can freely use your Shikai. I doubt anyone else will recognize it.”

 _‘I have a few ideas about that actually,’_ his Zanpakuto added thoughtfully. _‘I will explain later.’_

“A week then,” Ishida said. “I… will need to do something as well.”

Sending a curious look his way without comment, Ichigo asked, “And how much time will Rukia have left?”

“Twenty-three days.”

* * *

As both young men left, stumbling home with a promise to return later for much needed training, Urahara dug through his shelves searching for the Senkaimon blueprints.

A black cat jumped on the table near him, “Do you ever tell the truth?”

“Don’t know what you are talking about, Yoruichi-san,” he responded in a sing-song voice.

Yoruichi gave him a filthy look. “To speed up the healing process?” she repeated incredulously. “Seriously?! Do you ever feel disgusted with yourself?!”

It was only her cat ears that allowed her to hear his response, “All the time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point even I can't tell how much truth (if any) Urahara is telling. Sounds plausible though, doesn't it? And Ichigo has no reason to distrust him. Yet.
> 
> A reminder that Saketsu (鎖結, Binding Chain) and Hakusui (魄睡, Soul Sleep) are the source of spiritual power for a Shinigami.
> 
> Also I should (perhaps unnecessarily) point out that if I have to choose between the latest canon events and my own ideas, I will go with my ideas. I doubt it will come to that though, since the structure of this fanfic is malleable and some events are left deliberately vague.


	7. Chapter 7

** Interlude 5: The Meaning of Friendship **

Sometimes she couldn’t quite recognize herself. Oh, she liked to think that she hadn’t changed, that she was the same Inoue Orihime who babbled nonsense and unleashed her culinary experiments on unsuspecting bystanders. Sometimes she still was, in that part of her life she thought of as ‘normal’. _That_ Orihime was just a cheerful, friendly girl with overactive imagination. That was the side of her that she presented to the world.

There existed another one, familiar with the sight of blood and death, who felt at home between the gods and demons of the afterlife, who danced between swords and arrows, and brought destruction on the edge of a golden thread. _That_ Orihime was a product of war, hidden from the unsuspecting eyes, only there for friends and enemies to see.

Friends… It was such a strange concept with so many definitions all blurring together. Where did ‘acquaintance’ end and ‘friend’ begin? What separated one from another? Everyone had their own opinion. For Orihime though as she went through war after war, fighting hundreds of enemies in hundreds of battles, after all the death and destruction and literal hell on earth, friendship meant never being afraid.

When Rukia brushed past, her every touch filled with deadly cold of absolute zero, she wasn’t afraid. When Ishida unfurled his wings tearing apart even ground and air until everything around became just a fuel for thousands of arrows, she wasn’t afraid. When Ichigo roared in rage, his Gran Rey Cero unraveling the very fabric of space, she wasn’t afraid.

And likewise her friends were never afraid of her own power to reject and reshape reality itself.

Friendship was unconditional trust and willingness to go into the depths of hell without even being asked, expecting nothing in return, yet knowing that her friends would readily do the same.

* * *

** Chapter 6: One Problem after Another **

Using Fusion Bankai was a decidedly strange experience, no matter how many times he had already done it. While the bone armor covering his skin and the mane of red hair were at least somewhat similar to the wardrobe change he got from Soo Zabimaru, the rest of it was pure weirdness.

Having the tail instead of legs, for example, was the reason of much freaking out on his part when he had first tried the new and still largely untested technique. Sternritters waited for no one, and having at least _something_ to counteract Sklaverei when temporary Hollowification failed was the main priority.

…It was still weird as hell or, more precisely, weird as Urahara who created it.

Apparently, after running a lot of tests on Arrancar, Visored, Kaien (the only person in existence to wield both a Shinigami and an Arrancar-type Zanpakuto), and Ichigo (the only person in existence to wield both a Shinigami-type Zanpakuto and something close enough to Visored-type), the crazy shopkeeper concluded that the difference between the three types was much smaller than it seemed and created a sorta-Resurreccion-but-not-quite for Shinigami. Somehow.

Renji didn’t quite understand the mechanics (not that anybody else did either) but it involved, as the name suggested, fusing a Shinigami with their Zanpakuto temporarily. It wasn’t as seamless as true Resurreccion, since the differences between Shinigami and Arrancar were still present, and it was also considerably weaker than normal Bankai, but who cared? As long as it couldn’t be stolen, it was good enough.

Moreover, sometimes having less power was actually _better_. Any Bankai required a lot of reiatsu to maintain, so cutting down on power output actually helped in more drawn-out battles. Besides, some Shinigami were hesitant to enter the final release because it was harmful either for themselves or for their allies. Not that it applied to Renji, but Rukia, for example, could freeze anyone and anything in her surroundings and suffered a lot of damage herself in the process. For her, Fusion Bankai was like a gift from the god.

And of course it didn’t hurt that the traits of Shikai or Bankai forms of a Zanpakuto were transferred to the Shinigami. Byakuya wouldn’t even be _alive_ anymore if not for his ability to ‘scatter’ his body into thousands of shards directed by his will. Not that he would ever admit it, of course. Renji could certainly confirm that his own ability to separate into vertebrae-like pieces joined only by reiatsu had come in handy more than once.

…Still weird though.

* * *

Chad was often overlooked. Strange, considering his size, but not so much if one took into account his personality. He was quiet and reserved, easily fading into background, especially compared to his loud and often violent friends. This suited him just fine. He never liked being in the spotlight. Unfortunately, spotlight often found _him_ along with all kinds of trouble.

The Fullbringer spared a second to glance around taking note of numerous Hollows hiding behind the stone trees, eyes following their every movement. He didn’t stop, unconcerned about the inhabitants of the forest. Those were not Menos-level, and even if some Gillian stumbled across them, Chad and Renji could easily take it down.

Inhaling the surprisingly clean air, Chad dismissed the spectators from his mind and concentrated on the pure feeling of running…

It was strange, how incredibly at ease he felt. He had amnesia and no definite way home, he was surrounded by Hollows from all sides and yet… And yet he felt no worries, no troubles, no desire to leave, just pure energy, both calming and electrifying, surging through his body.

It wasn’t the first time that Chad encountered the Call of Hueco Mundo, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but he couldn’t help but be amazed as to how _at home_ he felt. It did beg one question though. He was just a Fullbringer, a human with Hollow taint, a tiny piece of inherited power, and yet he felt the Call so strongly. What was it like for full Hollows then? Or at least hybrids like Visored? He couldn’t imagine it, not quite, because – he’d never admit it, not even to himself – if the feeling got any stronger, he wouldn’t have minded to stay there forever.

“Just how long are we going to run around here, huh?”

Chad paused in mid-air at the sudden question and looked at his companion. With the jaws of his skull-like helmet shut, Renji had the ultimate poker-face, though his body language was still easy to read, not to mention his voice. Right now with his arms crossed and tail swishing angrily behind, the Shinigami was the epitome of annoyance.

“Until we find the passage to the desert,” he replied, stating the obvious.

“And how long will _that_ take?!” the Lieutenant of the Sixth exploded. “Hueco Mundo is bigger than Earth! We could wander here for the rest of our lives!”

That didn’t seem like such a bad prospect though Chad wasn’t going to say it out loud. Instead he tried to reason, “Even if we can’t find a way back, our friends will get us out.”

“I don’t _want_ to be rescued!” Renji complained. “Rukia would be making fun of me for- for- for I don’t know how long! And if Captain Kuchiki finds out what happened…” He shuddered. “We _really_ need to get out of here.”

“You won’t get out of here alive!” a voice screeched, and Renji ducked a bright red Cero some idiotic Hollow fired his way.

“Shut up!” the Shinigami yelled in response. “Don’t make me tear your head off, you overgrown toad! And I’m already dead!”

“I don’t think that’s what it meant,” Chad said.

“I don’t care!” Renji hissed. The jaws of his helmet opened slightly, and the red beam of Hikotsu Taiho shot somewhere in the general direction of the Hollow. “Ugh, why is it so stupidly hard to aim?”

A strangely brightly colored bird swooped from the branches but met Chad’s fist. “You shouldn’t attack us,” the Fullbringer said as the creature dissolved, its mask broken. “We are not looking for a fight.”

“Speak for yourself,” the redhead grumbled readying his claws. The tip of his tail lengthened and sharpened into blade. “I won’t mind tearing apart a few morons.”

Apparently, the other Hollows that followed them had better sense of self-preservation since they quickly retreated farther into the forest.

All sans one.

“Renji! Chad!” the white-clad Arrancar yelled skidding to a halt. “There you are!”

“Kaien? What are you doing here?” the Shinigami asked in surprise.

“No time to explain!” the Shiba shouted. “Kokuto! Get out of those shadows and tell us where the others are!”

The shadows solidified into the form of the lanky Demon. The black scarf wrapped around his head hid his face leaving only the left eye visible, but Kokuto was undeniably scowling at him, “Will you stop panicking and explain?”

Kaien growled, “No time! We must get everyone back together and find _her_ before _she_ finds us!”

* * *

Slowly she opened her eyes looking at the sky above. Where was she? Or more importantly, _who_ was she? She… couldn’t remember.

Her fingers twitched, curling over something smooth and round nestled in her palm. With effort she turned her painfully throbbing head and looked at the small yellow rock. What… what was it? Her empty memory held no answer. Closing her hand around the object, she bent her elbow, ready to throw it away, when something within her mind protested vehemently. Opening her fingers, she looked at the rock curiously. Was this thing important somehow? Aside from that one flash of knowledge, her memory stayed silent.

Carefully she bent her knees and braced her arms, trying to at least sit up, but a stab of a headache sent her flopping down. She waited patiently until the pain subsided into muted fuzziness and sat up with almost no trouble this time. Looking around, she noticed someone lying face down on the ground several feet away. Curiously she stood up swaying from dizziness and approached the person on shaky legs.

She toed the unconscious man slightly but seeing no reaction kicked him in the side much harder. With a pained moan he twitched awake, and she lowered her foot, feeling disappointed that she hadn’t managed to break a rib or two.

The man turned his head, blinking blearily, but one look at her sent him scrambling away madly.

“Hikami-sama,” he rasped falling to his knees and bowing deeply. “Please, forgive my tardiness.”

Hikami? Was that her name? Slowly a smirk spread across her face as she tasted the word on her tongue. She liked it, oh, how she liked it! So. Very. Much!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi (日) – day, sun, sunshine; Kami (神) – god, deity. Which makes Hikami (日神) – sun goddess. EDIT: according to Starrie Wolf, the name makes more sense written as 火神 (where 火 means "fire").
> 
> A bit of theory on Zanpakuto (or at least my understanding/interpretation of it).
> 
> By sending their reiatsu into the Asauchi, Shinigami effectively split their souls, which forms a Zanpakuto both as a part of the original soul and a different entity. The process is rather long, but if you have an Asaushi and enough spiritual pressure (and if you are a Shinigami, you do) sooner or later you'll have a Zanpakuto.
> 
> When a Hollow breaks its mask, the soul is broken too, and the split part becomes a Zanpakuto. The same process as for a Shinigami but with 2 key differences: 1) there is no Asauchi, so nothing interferes with fusing back into one (Resurreccion) and 2) because the process is so fast, it's also very traumatic, and the success rate is very low, which is why there are so few Arrancar (until Aizen the cheater came with his magic rock).
> 
> The Hollowification is a transformation from Shinigami to Visored, and the fully Hollowified Visored get Resurreccion (like Tosen) similar to Arrancar, and special abilities based on their original Shikai/Bankai. It stands to reason that Zanpakuto will go from Shinigami-type to Visored-type which can become similar to Arrancar-type (if the transformation runs its course) but not identical because Tosen could still use Shikai, and let's not forget about Asauchi.
> 
> Also I think the Visored's Hollow powers depend on how far the transformation had gone. EDIT: I must be wrong about it. Hiyori took the longest time to beat her Hollow, yet Mashiro is the one who could keep her mask for hours.
> 
> Ichigo is unique because the whole process was backwards for him. In canon, the Hollow fragment he got from his mother fused with whatever Shinigami power he had and much later he forged it into a proper Zanpakuto with Asauchi. Now in my story, that Hollow fragment who goes by the name of Tensa never had the chance to properly become a Zanpakuto, but technically can be considered a fully-hollowified Visored-type, with no Shinigami abilities, but with all the Hollow ones, up to and including Resurreccion.
> 
> And one more thing: Medalize technique was used to steal Bankai; however, it blocked Vollstandig and could be reversed by temporary Hollowification. Sklaverei, on the other hand, worked with Vollstandig, and in canon Quilge Opie used it to tear apart Ayon (a Hollow) and graft his body parts on himself. It's not much of a stretch to say that Sklaverei could be used to steal Hollowified Bankai (and while it probably would be temporary or much harder to use, Shinigami would still lose their most dangerous weapon).


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reminder that Uryu was the only Gemischt Quincy to survive Auswahlen none the worse for wear for reasons yet unknown (Ichigo doesn't count, he is too weird to classify), so don't get your hopes up.

** Interlude 6: The Final Form **

Ishida carefully opened the old box and reached inside, fingers running over the white fabric of the Sanrei Glove. A last gift from his grandfather, not long before his death… Uryu gritted his teeth. He was too weak and scared to help back then… Not anymore. He would prove his strength, and what better way to do it than break right into the heart of Soul Society?

The smirk that graced his lips slid off his face as he remembered why he was hiding near the waterfall in the first place. Uryu held no illusions about his own strength. He never managed to defeat Yoruichi or Urahara, even after getting the hang on Blut Vene. And unlike the exiles, Shinigami wouldn’t hold back in a real fight, so he needed some way to tip the scales in his favor. Sanrei Glove was perfect for that, and if worse came to worst…

“That’s what I suspected,” a sudden voice startled him, and Uryu jumped in the opposite direction, bow at the ready, cursing his lack of awareness. Recognition dawned as the sight of the unexpected visitor registered in his mind, and Ishida dismissed his weapon.

“Shouldn’t you be babysitting Kurosaki, so he won’t do something stupid again?” he asked without much bite.

“I am his power, not his babysitter,” was the slightly amused response.

Uryu ran his fingers over the Sanrei Glove once again, “Why are you here, Zangetsu? You almost never come out.”

“Indeed,” the soul fragment agreed. “But the circumstances called for it.”

“Circumstances?” the young Quincy repeated. “What did Kurosaki do _this time_?”

“Ichigo has nothing to do with it,” the spirit denied before changing the subject. “Do you truly wish to use the Glove? Are you aware of the danger that comes with it?”

It was not something he wanted to dwell upon but… “Yes. Even if I lose my power if I ever take it off, I still need it.”

“Letzt Stil, the last resort of a Quincy,” Zangetsu mused stepping closer. “The power it could unleash was thought to be unrivaled… Wrongly.”

His instincts screamed in warning, and Ishida was across the clearing even before he could understand what happened, but he couldn’t help but look in awe at the Quincy spirit. The wings, bright blue and glowing, stretched to his sides in sharp contrast with his dark attire. Uryu could see the reishi flowing into the constructs and feel the raw power concentrated there…

Zangetsu cut off the flow of reishi and lowered his now-dormant wings, the jagged tips leaving deep gouges in the ground. “Vollstandig,” he said. “The pinnacle of Quincy power. With it you could be unstoppable.”

“And if I use it… I won’t lose my powers?”

“No.”

Ishida inhaled sharply, “Why me? Why not Kurosaki? You are _his_ power, _his_ soul!”

The spirit shook his head, “Ichigo is not yet ready for this. You are.”

Uryu studied him intently for a few seconds then slowly nodded, “Tell me what to do.”

* * *

** Chapter 7: Broken Memories, Shattered Soul **

“Any ideas as to how to get our memories back, Kurosaki?” the Quincy asked crossing his arms.

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, “Don’t know about you, but my Zanpakuto is digging through our head right now...”

_/He was a fool, a damned fool, for daring to hope his wielder held even a shred of affection towards him. All those years he spent feeding on Hollows, hiding from Shinigami, jumping from Inner World to Inner World in search of knowledge that would free his master… And for what? For blade – his own blade – through the stomach? For more pain? …For death?_

_He ran blindly feeling his strength wane. There was nothing left for him anymore. Nothing. The bond – no matter how weak and fragile – he shared with his master was broken, even his own blade was shattered… That was the payment for his loyalty? …Why? What had he done to deserve it? Wasn’t he always by his master’s side ready to lend his strength even when it seemed like the entire world was against them?_

_He was a fool, deluding himself into thinking that his master cared about him. Unneeded, unwanted, abandoned... What was even the point of trying to run away from that god-forsaken island where his master had been sealed and now met his end in a Kido trap? No, no point, except he kept running, even when his body was dissolving into nothingness... He didn’t want to die in a place where all his hopes and dreams turned to dust… The fire trap weaved into the island itself, the key hidden so carefully within the Captain-Commander’s mind… A false key. And in his arrogance he didn’t notice… Perhaps for the better…_

_…A Hollow’s roar and a wave of reiatsu jolted him back into reality, and he blurred into Shunpo reappearing on the river bank. He could see them – a bright-haired woman covering a little boy with her own body and a giant Hollow ready to kill them both. In a flash of purple he materialized his blade and stabbed it through the white mask before the last drops of energy left his body and he crumpled to the ground._

_He didn’t want innocent people to die, didn’t want to be as heartless as his master... Former master, he had no wielder, not anymore – not in a long time, when was the last time his voice was heard…?_

_“…Can you hear me? Please, wake up! Are you okay? Please!” The child’s worried voice cut through the haze that enveloped his mind. He barely managed to open his eyes to look at the little boy shaking his shoulder. The woman, bruised and dirty but alive, was kneeling near his prone form, grateful tears shining in her eyes. “You saved us,” she whispered. “You saved my son. How-? How can I ever thank you…?”_

_He was glad, he thought as his consciousness slipped away. At least someone cared… He didn’t want to die alone…/_

“…Kurosaki!” Someone was shaking him awake. “Kurosaki, dammit, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“…Shut up and let me go, Ishida!” Ichigo managed to hiss. Damn, when had he fallen on the ground…?

“What’s going on with you?” the worried Quincy yelled.

“I told you, my Zanpakuto is searching through our memories. This is… the side-effect.” And the first flashback he got just _had_ to be one of the most unpleasant memories, hadn’t it? Ichigo shivered and pressed his hand to his stomach where he could still feel the phantom pain. Damn, sometimes he wished that Koga was still alive so he could kill him with his own hands…

“Kurosaki!” The half-angry, half-worried shout brought him back to the present and Ichigo stood up, shaking off his Zanpakuto’s memories.

He couldn’t claim to know how the mind worked and the memories were stored but… why that one? It happened years ago. Shouldn’t the memories be more recent…?

_/His soul was tearing at the seams as the part that held his Quincy powers was being ruthlessly ripped out by the so-called emperor. He hated it, hated the power that bastard held, hated the smirk on his familiar/unfamiliar face…_

_He could feel the bonds that held his patchwork soul together straining and snapping, and he cried in pain when his wings blinked out of existence and his mask turned to dust. Ichigo clawed at his chest in blind panic as if that was enough to keep the soul fragment where it belonged – because Zangetsu was_ his _, dammit, no matter his origins – when the pain stopped just as suddenly as it began._

 _Ichigo fell to his knees, his head swimming, only barely aware of someone’s hands on his shoulders and the voice yelling in his ear, yet somehow able to perceive ‘familiar, friend, ally’ in the back of his mind. He could feel the gaping wounds bleeding with reiryoku in his fragmented soul – like a torn off limb hanging by a thread but still a part of him… He was still_ complete _./_

…God damn it! He just had to jinx it, didn’t he? Congratulations, Kurosaki, here’s your prize – one of the worst memories of your life! Ichigo dropped to the ground when another wave of images hit him...

_/”So, kid, looks like ya’ll be training with us,” the blond man said with a Cheshire cat grin._

_The thirteen-year-old Ichigo gave him a wary look but nodded. If Sandal Hat trusted those Visored, he’d give them a benefit of doubt._

**_‘Ya don’t need those clowns,’_ ** _the petulant voice of his Hollow sounded from his Inner World. **‘I can teach ya all ya need ta know.’**_

_‘I know,’ Ichigo replied. ‘But they have both Shinigami and Hollow powers and a lot of experience. Don’t you think it will be useful?’_

**_‘Tch.’_ **

_“What are you going to teach me?” he asked out loud._

_“Lotsa things,” Shinji replied with a shrug. “But first ya need ta fight and defeat yer Hollow…”_

**_‘Yeah, right,’_ ** _Tensa snickered. **‘Ya ain’t ready ta fight me.’**_

_Ichigo frowned acknowledging the point. He wasn’t ready to fight any of his inner spirits, though he knew it would have to happen sooner or later. Once he mastered all the available powers and techniques, there would be no way to become stronger except to fight. He would fight Muramasa for Bankai, fight Tensa for Resurreccion: Segunda Etapa, fight Zangetsu for Vollstandig…_

_But not yet. Right now he was painfully aware of how much he still needed to learn. Even though his skill increased and power grew, his inner spirits could still trounce him without much effort._

_“…Otherwise yer Hollow will take over and devour yer soul…”_

_Wait, what?_

**_‘Been there, done that,’_ ** _Tensa laughed. **‘Yer soul is pretty tasty.’**_

_‘I… don’t think that’s what he meant,’ Ichigo said slowly, feeling the ragged edges of his soul where each of his spirits bit off a piece to make a place for themselves._

_“…So ya’ll need ta destroy it completely.”_

_The onslaught of fury burned out any goodwill he had towards the Visored, all four pieces of his soul united in their anger._

_“You want me to do_ what _?!” Ichigo snarled._

_“Simple,” Shinji responded. “First we need ta force yer Hollow in control-”_

_“Like this!” Hiyori yelled rushing forward and slashing at him with her sword._

_Ichigo parried the blow feeling the rage bubble in his chest._

**_‘They want me out?!’_ ** _Tensa shrieked tearing at the edges of his consciousness, and Ichigo felt himself fall down, down, down, the roar of his Hollow being the last thing he remembered./_

“…Is there some sort of medicine you should be on?” Ishida snapped when Ichigo could comprehend his surroundings once again. “Your random fits are getting on my nerves already!”

“…You think that _you_ have it bad?” Ichigo slurred trying to shake off two sets of memories – his and his Hollow’s – from the same event and braced himself for another flashback…

 _/The crystal cracked under his blade, and the liquid darkness poured out, over him, around him, into him. It hissed and whispered in million voices clinging to his skin, digging into his mind… It was alive and sentient, and it could_ want _and_ hate _, and he was going to drown under the waves of power when the beam of light tore through the shadows, and the darkness cried in pain and hatred, because the sun was its enemy and_ his _enemy too, so he let it tear out a piece of his already ravaged soul and pour inside into the cracks of his self, because that’s what he did, right? Let the others rip him apart and burrow so deeply into his soul, his heart, his mind, becoming a part of him in return./_

Bingo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't find anywhere a decent explanation as to why exactly Quincy can destroy souls, so I made my own.
> 
> We have 2 statements: 1) Zanpakuto purify Hollows, and 2) Quincy destroy Hollows. Which could mean that 1) ONLY Zanpakuto purify Hollows, or 2) ONLY Quincy destroy Hollows.
> 
> If we go with the first statement, that would mean that humans, Fullbringers and even Shinigami that use Kido destroy Hollows and all the souls in them. Somehow I doubt it. Why would no one comment on Chad, Orihime, Karin? Why would Shinigami learn Hado? Why were the Mod-Souls created? Because they certainly don't have Zanpakuto.
> 
> That leaves the second statement as more plausible. But here's the question, if Quincy use reishi/reiatsu from their surroundings for their arrows, how does that translate into soul destruction? Zanpakuto are made of reishi, Kido, Shikai abilities, even the powers of spiritually strong humans like Karin are reiatsu-based. What makes Quincy so special, even if we assume they somehow transform the reishi they collected before using them?
> 
> While pondering that question I asked another: how can you even tell that the soul is destroyed? Just because it doesn't show up in Soul Society? Which leads us to this quote from manga, chapter 565: "All of us Sternritter and the Shinigami who touched parts of his majesty's soul offer their souls to him when they die."
> 
> So… does getting hit by the arrow count as touching the soul? Because then I know where all those thought to be destroyed souls went.
> 
> Regarding Auswahlen: I assumed that since Quincy gained their powers from pieces of Yhwach's soul, Auswahlen meant forcefully tearing out those pieces, while the Quincy in question slowly died from soul damage. Manga is not very clear on the subject.


	9. Chapter 9

** Interlude 7: Rogue Espada **

“E-e-espada-san?” Inoue Orihime squeaked as the Arrancar carrying her ran away from Las Noches at all the speed his Sonido was capable of.

“Told you, name’s Kaien,” he replied, not slowing down. “Don’t worry, once we meet with your friends, I’ll open a Garganta to the Living World. Just hang on, okay?”

Orihime nodded, hoping that the strange man was telling the truth.

She was alone when he first appeared, dressed in white with the mask covering his entire head. Matter-of-factly, the Noveno Espada announced that her friends were in the vicinity of Las Noches then grabbed her, threw Gran Rey Cero at the wall, said he was busting her out, and ran into the desert.

Once outside under the perpetually dark sky, the Arrancar took off his helmet revealing a handsome face underneath, and Inoue was more than a little surprised that the man looked almost like Ichigo, albeit with black hair and blue eyes. He gave her a grin that she hesitantly answered with a smile of her own and hurried away from the enormous citadel.

Suddenly a shudder ran through his body, and Kaien stopped, tensing and looking warily around. “Zommari,” he mumbled narrowing his eyes. “Right, who else?”

It stood to reason that the fastest Arrancar would be sent to chase them as no one expected Noveno to win against Septima… Kaien smirked darkly and lowered Orihime to the ground, “Stay close.”

Feeling the approaching reiatsu, the former Shinigami took his Zanpakuto from its sheath, “Rankle the seas and the skies, Nejibana!”

The dark-skinned Espada appeared several feet away, his impossible speed making it look as if he materialized from thin air. Zommari screamed loudly and doubled over in pain as electricity ran over his body, and Kaien bared his teeth in a feral grin, amping the voltage.

“Haven’t you learned to look where you’re running?” the shapeshifter mocked and directed a stream of water from his trident onto his thrashing enemy.

Zommari fell to the ground, still unable to see the carefully laden trap he got into – hundreds of hair-thin and extremely conductive tendrils Kaien surrounded himself with in a matter of seconds.

“Is that a no?” Kaien laughed and unwilling to lose his advantage bit sharply into his gloved left hand – more like an approximation of a hand, actually. The normal light blue color of his Cero changed to dark violet. A few seconds to charge it – and he shot Gran Rey Cero at his enemy, simultaneously discharging as much electricity as he could muster.

The explosion swallowed Zommari, destroying the tendrils surrounding him, but the sudden increase of reiatsu output was enough to indicate that the Arrancar entered Resurreccion. Cursing loudly, Kaien tore off his left glove with his teeth, revealing the gruesome appendage underneath. Shoving Orihime farther behind his back, he snarled, “Devour, Glotoneria!”

His body twisted, grew, expanded into a sickening blob-like mass of purple flesh and distorted organs (he never liked his Resurreccion, but it was useful, and it was not like he had any choice in the matter). Dozens of thick tentacles extended and surged towards his enemy while few more wrapped gently around Inoue keeping the human girl behind him and away from Zommari’s attacks. Ten pairs of thin transparent wings appeared at his sides and moved to cover his head and upper body when Kaien felt the massive tentacles move on their own accord to attack him. Quickly he sliced off the misbehaving appendages with a thin stream of water from Nejibana, ignoring the pain and purple blood seeping from the wounds.

“Care to try this again?” he asked grimly, tearing off two wings when the marks of Amor appeared on them, and sent more tentacles towards Zommari. Kaien tapped into few more of his stolen abilities releasing a cloud of toxic smoke and sprays of corrosive liquid from his tendrils. Immediately hacking off the limbs he could no longer control, he fired another Gran Rey Cero. Zommari’s pained cries as many of his eyes were ruined were music to his ears.

Sending a wide stream of water at his enemy and tearing off another wing, Kaien extended a mass of thorned vines and shot the spikes dripping with venom at the Arrancar destroying a few more eyes. A sudden idea entered his mind, and the former Shinigami directed another stolen ability into Nejibana and the water surging around, freezing Zommari in a block of ice.

“Damn, why didn’t I think of it earlier?” he slurred feeling lightheaded from losing so many limbs. Regeneration required more reiatsu than he could spare right now. Adding more ice just to be sure, Kaien inspected Septima’s visible eyes, noting smugly that all of them were either destroyed or already in use, and extended a pair of long dragonfly wings with jagged edges and numerous cracks and grooves carved into them. The wings flapped once, twice, air surging through the slits in them with a strange sound, then started beating in a steady rhythm faster and faster, the pitch climbing higher until it could no longer be heard. The vibrations spread through the air, cracks appearing in the transparent ice, before it shattered completely, along with the Arrancar trapped inside.

Feeling incredibly tired, Kaien lowered his wings and released Orihime from his grasp. Dragging his lumbersome body closer, he extended his left arm and opened the mouth on it widely, swallowing the frozen pieces of the dead Arrancar. Immediately he felt his power skyrocket, his body shrinking and changing shape. The instinctive knowledge made him laugh out loud, realizing he was now an Adjuchas. It seemed like he couldn’t evolve before because he ate only Hollows. As an Arrancar he needed to eat other Arrancar.

Kaien inspected his new form with curiosity. He was now human-sized, with eight dark violet tentacles instead of legs. His left arm was the same color, the tendrils growing from it now longer and teeth sharper, though he still lacked a hand.

A sudden weakness hit him when Nejibana and Glotoneria ruthlessly destroyed Zommari in his Inner World. Kaien nearly keeled over when all the souls contained within the Septima Espada left his body taking most of the power with them. He knew it was for the better – this way he was in no danger of being taken over, and the souls would be sent to Soul Society – but the fact remained that without any souls except his own he would be much weaker than any other Hollow of his level.

With a tired sigh he sealed both Shikai and Resurreccion. His body reshaped itself, and with not a small amount of surprise Kaien looked at his now human left hand clutching the violet hilt of the sword. He grinned with delight running his fingers over Glotoneria, now separate from his body, and turned to Inoue.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said swaying on his feet. “I don’t think I’m in any shape for another fight.”

* * *

The slug-like Hollow moved surprisingly fast, but the faraway citadel of Las Noches didn’t seem to be getting any closer. As a result, the mixed group of Shinigami, Hollows, Quincy, and humans was suffering from anxiety and boredom simultaneously.

Ishida lamented the fact he had nothing to sew with, Renji grumbled something unintelligible and certainly rude, if Rukia elbowing him in the ribs every other minute was any indication, Chad was trying to ignore Pesche and Dondochakka, while Nel was plastered to Ichigo’s side and talking his ear off.

Suddenly the massive Hollow stopped, letting out its signature cry.

“What happened, Bawabawa?” Nel lisped worriedly.

“There!” Uryu pointed at something – or rather someone – running towards them.

Expecting nothing good to appear in the desert of Hueco Mundo, the mismatched group got ready for a fight.

“Kurosaki-kun!” a familiar voice shouted. “Chad! Uryu! Rukia! Renji!”

“Inoue?!” Ishida yelled in disbelief when the unknown man holding a very familiar girl blurred to a halt on Bawabawa’s head, and Orihime jumped down immediately hugging everyone.

“I missed you all so much!” she gushed loudly with a bright smile.

Rukia didn’t react when the happy girl hugged her and didn’t hear the confused questions flying around. She could only stare at the man she never thought she’d see again.

“K-Kaien-dono?” she stammered unable to believe her own eyes.

He raised a hand, familiar crooked grin playing on his lips, “Hey, Kuchiki, fancy meeting you here.”

“Wait, Kaien?” Renji repeated. “As in Shiba Kaien?”

“Shiba?” Ichigo asked in surprise. Was this guy his relative? And if so, what was he doing in Hueco Mundo? And dressed like one of Aizen’s lackeys to boot. Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the mixture of Shinigami and Hollow reiatsu radiating from the newcomer. Visored felt like Shinigami with Hollow taint and vice versa for Arrancar, but this guy was half-and-half, both parts in balance, reminding Ichigo of himself.

“The one and only!” Kaien announced cheerfully.

“But you- you died!” Rukia cried. “How- how is this possible?!”

Kaien ran a hand through his dark hair with a grimace, “That Hollow that fused with me, Metastacia, had some weird abilities. Instead of dying, I- _we_ reformed in Hueco Mundo. I managed to take control, then spent some time wandering around, fighting Hollows. Got myself eaten by a Gillian. Stupid, huh? Had to fight all the souls inside it before I managed to take control. I took over just in time for Aizen to transform me into an Arrancar. I stuck around after that, became an Espada, planned to kill that smug bastard but never got the chance. In the end I just wanted to get out, only waited for the right moment.”

“Kaien-san saved me!” Orihime chirped. “And defeated the Arrancar that was chasing us!”

“Yeah, that too,” he nodded. “Which reminds me… Zommari was the fastest, but I’m sure there are others after us.”

“Who? How many?” Ichigo asked immediately.

“You want to stay and fight, Kurosaki?” Ishida asked incredulously. “We came here to save Inoue! Mission accomplished! Now open a Garganta so we can get out of here!”

“Whaaaat?! Itsygo wants to leave Nel?!” the little girl wailed loudly, and Kaien gasped as recognition dawned in him.

“Nelliel…?” he asked hesitantly. “Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck? I… I thought you were dead.”

“You know Nel?” she asked, and he nodded.

“We… weren’t friends but not enemies either.”

“Nel doethn’t wemembew,” she lisped sadly then cheered up, “Nel wantth to be fwiendth!”

Kaien laughed softly, “Then let’s be friends, Nel.”

With a loud squeal the green-haired child jumped into his arms, and Kaien hugged her ignoring the curious and baffled looks they were getting.

Finally coming to a decision, Ichigo tore open a Garganta, “C’mon, we can all talk inside. No need to wait for Aizen’s Arrancar to find us.”

The large Hollow slithered in, still carrying everyone on its back, and the ragged hole in space closed behind it, leaving the desert empty for miles once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point of time Inoue is the closest to canon version. Feels kinda strange comparing her to the future one.
> 
> And here we get a glimpse of Kaien's fighting style. Because he holds no souls, his reiatsu reserves are incredibly small for his level, thus any fight has to be finished as fast as possible. Eating his opponent lets him regain some reiatsu, which is why Kaien is much better at fighting multiple weaker enemies than one or few stronger ones. He also usually uses every ability available to him to negate his enemy's strengths (if he has time to study his opponent beforehand, then all the better).


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write, the farther I come from the initial (and admittedly silly) idea. It doesn't feel like the name fits this fic anymore... I'll have to think about it.

** Interlude 8: The Tides of War **

Stab, slash, duck. Shunpo to the side, shoot another Hado. Jump higher into the air to get a moment of rest from the never-ending horde, ignore the itching of shallow cuts and blood sticking to her skin. Stab another enemy… That was what she called them in her head – just enemy. Hollows, Shinigami, plus souls… all of them silent and empty-eyed, with no shred of free will left. They belonged to Yhwach now, every soul that was ever killed by a Quincy now only a mindless puppet in his hands.

_Rukia felt sick._

Sidestep another attack and slice off the enemy’s head (Shinigami, looking barely out of the Academy, she didn’t know him), dodge hands reaching towards her and stab first the weaponless woman then a little boy (they were no longer the people she swore to protect but no matter how much she repeated it in her head, she still felt like a monster). Break the mask of the attacking Hollow (weak little thing, not even Menos – she forgot there was ever a time when she considered them dangerous) just in time to meet the blade of another Shinigami (vaguely familiar face but the name eluded her memory – she mourned nonetheless).

_It was a nightmare._

Fight, fight, fight… Wait for another Shinigami to take her place (so many have died already, there simply wasn’t enough people, but they would never give up) and Shunpo to where she could see the blooming vines of Ruri’iro Kujaku. Tear off one of the flowers and bite into the white petals feeling her reiatsu levels rise slightly (not enough, nowhere near enough) and her wounds heal (she was so tired). Shunpo farther back, closer to the barrier that covered the entirety of Seireitei (if the enemy reached it, it would be broken sooner or later, she had no doubts), and get some rest on top of the ruined building.

_Why couldn’t she wake up?_

The enemies appeared from the shadows of Schatten Bereich – thousands upon thousands scattered all over Seireitei. They arrived in relatively small groups, but just big enough and just often enough. If they appeared all in one place, then a few choice Hado or a more destructive Bankai could make a short work of them. If the attacking groups were smaller, then the Shinigami would have time to rest…

_She wanted to wake up in the world without war._

Both sides were trying to buy time – Shinigami to study and reverse the effects of the Gate of the Sun making it possible to invade Silbern, Quincy to break down the defenses around the Soul King’s Palace (would the Royal Guard be enough to protect Reio?) – the question was, who would be faster? She didn’t know (didn’t want to think what would happen if they lost).

_Was it too much to ask?_

Something jolted Rukia out of her musings. She jerked up glancing wildly around where the last invaders were dissolving into reishi (just temporarily dispatched – they would come back). The unnerving quiet fell over the ruined Seireitei. This… this wasn’t good. Had the Quincy finally accomplished their goal? She hoped not.

The shadows appeared again, less than before but still plenty, and out stepped the oh-so-familiar figures of Wandenreich soldiers – those she had seen die, those she had killed herself. Rukia tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword ignoring the slight tremble of her hands.

In their first appearance the Quincy army went through Seireitei like tsunami, destroying everything and everyone in their path. Only the higher-ranked Shinigami could fight back, the rest were slaughtered, but they won nonetheless. Then the second wave came with the hordes of weak but persistent enemies spewing out, never laying off, giving no respite… And now the Quincy were back, revived by whatever terrible powers their emperor possessed…

“Dance, Sode no Shirayuki! Yugo no Bankai!”

* * *

** Chapter 8: Lady of War and Peace **

Orihime dangled her legs in the air, looking down from her perch on a tree. Rukia was resting quietly against the trunk, seemingly asleep again, and the human girl glanced around trying to see the edge of the never-ending forest. No such luck. Inoue huffed and crossed her arms leaning backwards so far, it was a miracle she didn’t fall off the branch. Not that it would matter even if she did fall off – learning to walk on air left her completely indifferent to heights.

Actually, she was indifferent to a lot of things now. No one could fight as much as she did, survive as much as she did, and remain unchanged. The battles left their mark, but it was her decision to shape herself into a warrior that changed her the most.

With a sigh Inoue tilted backwards hanging upside down with the branch under her knees. She was weak at first, she could admit it now. Weak, scared, unsure of everything and most of all of herself, her will so feeble that Tsubaki – her beautiful weapon – shattered instead of slicing her enemy apart.

Looking back she understood the reluctance everyone had to let her on the battlefield, though she was far from the only person to feel completely out of their depth. In a way, Aizen caught everyone by surprise. Shinigami grew complacent over time, too sure of their power, Ichigo and Uryu despite spending years training were not prepared to fight for their lives against enemies this strong, and neither Chad nor Orihime herself had any idea what they were getting into… The Winter War served as a rather nasty wake up call for everyone.

In the end, they won – miraculously no one on their side had actually died, they even found more allies – but the whole ordeal left Inoue feeling horribly guilty for not being much help. First getting captured by Ulquiorra and needing to be saved (it was nothing short of amazing that it didn’t end in disaster), then staying on the sidelines during the fight in Fake Karakura, completely outmatched and trying not to get in the way… Her inability to reverse the damage Hogyoku had done to Ichigo leaving three quarters of his soul completely out of reach was the last straw… She could no longer try to convince herself she was a healer, not a fighter, for it seemed like she failed at being both.

She knew that Chad felt similar way – completely outmatched and unable to catch up and generally _useless_ – which was why he so readily agreed to join Xcution, glad to have the chance to train and develop his abilities... She shuddered at the memory. Well, at least _something_ good came from that disaster.

Inoue, however, had no idea what species she actually belonged to (she couldn’t be human, she couldn’t, otherwise why would she get her powers and not Tatsuki who was strong and brave, and deserved them so much more?), and thus had no clue how her powers were supposed to develop. She spent a lot of time with Hachi, but the Visored could help only so much – not that air-walking and flash step were not important – but she wanted more.

It was Karin who pointed out a simple truth – Inoue didn’t need a myriad of techniques, she needed to learn how to effectively use the ones she had. And most of all, she needed to wake her fighting spirit somehow.

_/More than six months had passed already since the last time she saw any of her Shinigami friends which was somewhere between annoying and worrying. Was it really so hard to open a Senkaimon and come say “Hello”? Or at least send a butterfly? Even Kaien and Nel came to visit from time to time (Urahara had a field day making Gigai for the two Arrancar), even Visored appeared on their own accord once or twice…! Why couldn’t Rukia and Renji? She understood that Soul Society had a lot of problems to deal with but… how was it that some things were better during the war than in times of peace?_

_Finally fed up with the silence, she came to Urahara and asked him to open a Senkaimon. After all, she had the official permission to visit Seireitei now. Yoruichi tagged along, though she wandered off soon enough, and Orihime was left alone realizing suddenly that she had no idea how to navigate the labyrinthine streets._

_…She jumped on top of the wall and looked at the rows of identical roofs on all sides, silently cursing the architects, whoever they were. A sudden movement on one of the streets below attracted her attention, and Inoue flash stepped closer in hopes that someone would point her in the right direction._

_“Big Booby-chan!” a childish voice shouted gleefully, and Orihime felt her heart sink at the sight of a pink-haired girl clinging to the massive Captain of the Eleventh. Great, now they could be lost in this labyrinth together. It just_ figured _that she would meet the two people with the worst sense of direction in the world._

_“Hi, Yachiru,” she greeted halfheartedly, “Hello, Zaraki-taicho.”_

_“Eh?” the Captain looked at her in confusion before recognition dawned on his face. “Ah, you’re that girl, one of Ichigo’s friends! Tell me, where is he hiding?!”_

_…Of course he would ask that. Inoue shook her head, “Why do you want to fight Kurosaki-kun so much?”_

_“Ha! Most Shinigami can’t even scratch me!” Kenpachi boasted proudly. “And he managed to cut me on the first try!”_

_Orihime didn’t know whether it was a flash of brilliance or temporary madness that made her reach for Tsubaki._

_“Like this?” she asked, the golden thread of Koten Zanshun slicing through the air and cutting open his arm._

_Slowly the Captain of the Eleventh reached with one hand to touch the bleeding wound before a feral grin split his face. Orihime called up the rest of her fairies, face frozen between a grin and a grimace of fear, and met his chipped blade with her golden shield./_

Inoue grinned at the memory. Ah, what a beautiful disaster it was! She couldn’t clearly remember that fight except that it involved a lot of running for her life, but she survived somehow and even managed to severely injure Kenpachi. Apparently, after they both passed out from blood loss, Yachiru dragged them to the Fourth.

…A few days later they fought again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Miss Pacifistic Reality Warper was training with Kenpachi. Wanna bet she dropped the "Pacifistic" part pretty soon?
> 
> So apparently the Wandenreich headquarters are in Shadow Realm, and the Quincy came to Seireitei through the Gate of the Sun... I'm not sure whether I knew it when I started planning the story or not, but it fits surprisingly well. Lucky me!
> 
> And thanks to Isame Kuroda for the name of this chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

** Interlude 9: And the Adventure Begins **

The Hollow – a huge, lumbering thing – was not a problem. Ichigo had been dealing with creatures like this one for years. Though it was far too close to his home for comfort, he was used to much stronger enemies – sandal-swinging midget nutcase from the Visored warehouse came to mind, even if he was usually in spirit form when fighting. The Hollow wasn’t a problem, the Shinigami that came after it was.

In all honesty, Ichigo had intended to let the girl handle the Hollow on her own, playing the role of a mostly normal if spiritually aware human, not the crazy mixture of Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow he actually was. Unfortunately, nothing was going according to plan. The Hollow had already thrashed the entire street, but the Shinigami had yet to land a blow that left more than a scratch. And she was tiring quickly…

 **‘Are all Shinigami this pathetically weak?’** the distorted voice sneered from inside his mind.

 _‘Seated officers are almost never sent to patrol the Living World,’_ another voice replied. _‘Most likely, she hadn’t even achieved Shikai yet.’_

 **‘So that’s a yes?’** Tensa cackled, and Ichigo felt his Zanpakuto sigh in resigned irritation. _‘You didn’t even listen, did you?’_

His attention returned to the fight, and Ichigo had to agree with his aggravating Hollow side – the girl was ridiculously outmatched. If this continued on, she’d probably get injured, maybe even killed…

**‘Hey, whatcha doing? You ain’t gonna blow our secret, aren’tcha?’**

Ichigo ignored the slightly worried tone of his Hollow as he hurried downstairs and outside the house, grabbing the rusty metal pipe lying in the debris between the broken chunks of concrete. ‘I doubt she had ever seen a Quincy before. She won’t recognize this,’ he explained as the glowing pattern of reishi appeared on his skin. Glancing at the Shinigami lying crumpled on the ground, he added, ‘I don’t think she is even conscious.’

He wasn’t particularly worried about the girl – spirits could easily shrug off the wounds that would kill a normal human being, and her reiatsu felt strong enough. Still, better wrap it up quickly.

“Hey, ugly!” Ichigo yelled, and the large Hollow turned its head. “Yeah, you! Come and get me, if you dare!”

The creature roared and charged at him, but Ichigo stood his ground and raised his makeshift weapon. He would have much preferred to have Muramasa in his hand rather than a random piece of metal, but Blut Arterie would make each blow deadly, so it was good enough for the purpose. The Hollow covered the distance between them in seconds, opening its jaws wide, but once it was close enough, Ichigo swung at the grinning mask, ready to break it.

* * *

The Shinigami knew none of that, and what she saw was a Hollow ready to kill its victim. She knew she wasn’t strong enough, but she was fast.

* * *

His mind was fast, used to the breakneck speed of Shunpo, but his human body was slow, infinitely slower than his spirit form, and Ichigo could only watch in stunned horror as giant teeth clamped around the tiny girl. She gasped in pain as her bones cracked and blood flowed out.

With a wordless scream of rage Ichigo drove the metal pipe into the Hollow’s neck, the jagged tip easily piercing its skin. It shrieked in pain, releasing the girl, and Ichigo caught her as gently as possible.

“Why the hell did you do that, you crazy midget?” he yelled lowering her limp form to the ground as the Hollow screeched behind his back.

She drew a rattling breath then coughed harshly, a trickle of blood dripping from her mouth. She struggled to move, her arm still gripping her blade. “You can’t… hope to… to defeat it,” she rasped weakly. “But I… I can… help you… give you the… power… to…”

Ichigo closed his eyes, but when he opened them, the irises were no longer a warm brown but a feral yellow, “You’ve done enough. Just hang on, I’ll deal with this thing and then get you help.”

Ichigo turned away sharply, reaching for his Quincy powers, and the girl wasn’t able to see his eyes change color once more, this time to electric blue. Zangetsu responded immediately, his calm and steady presence filling their soul and tempering the rage slightly, and Ichigo felt the reishi permeating their surroundings sink into his body, the bluish glow outlining his arteries now almost blinding. He moved with the most speed his human body was capable of and swung at the Hollow’s bloodstained mask. The brightly glowing blade materialized in his hand breaking the white bone into pieces, and with the last pained roar the creature disappeared.

Ichigo took barely a moment to dismiss the construct and returned quickly to the injured Shinigami, his eyes back to their normal color.

She was staring at him in amazement, “How…?”

“Don’t try to talk,” Ichigo said then hollered, “Get down here, you old goat! We have a patient!”

* * *

** Chapter 9: Shadows of the Past **

The shadows whispered in his ears, the images of desert plains dancing before his eyes being replaced with a split-second picture of a lush green forest.

“Ichigo and Ishida are on the upper level, that way,” Kokuto pointed to his left. “Inoue and Rukia are in some forest in the Soul Society.”

Kaien nodded frantically, “Alright, go get the girls. We’ll meet in the desert.”

“Stop ordering me around!” the white-haired Demon snarled. “And answer my damn questions!”

The Arrancar twitched and sent a look in his direction, “Does the name ‘Hikami’ ring any bells?”

_/The burning light dug into the side of his face, her mad laugher crawling into his ears._

_“Does the little baby still want to fight?” she cooed, her sharp nails raking across his chest and leaving the trails of blood. “Aww, my precious little sinner, you will never, ever be free.”_

_He could only scream in pain as his skin bubbled and cracked under her scorching light./_

Kokuto pressed his hand to the scarred side of his face in echo of remembered pain. Wordlessly he sank into the shadows, looking for a way into the Soul Society.

* * *

The dizzying darkness of Shadow Realm fell into the weird range between painfully familiar and fundamentally wrong. It didn’t feel like home – he was just a guest there, allowed to access the place thanks to his nature, though Kokuto couldn’t shake the feeling that something was _off_.

The Demon glanced blindly around, the eternal whispers slithering into his ears but easily ignored and – dare he say it – comfortable. Except… there were too few voices. He frowned casting his mind away from the shadows that were permanently attached to him and tried to call the free ones.

Nothing. The sense of wrongness clamped around his heart. The Shadow Realm was supposed to be a noisy place full of liquid darkness with its alien sentience and hissing voices, but it was empty now, a barren nothingness not unlike the insides of a Garganta.

What could have happened there?

Kokuto shivered, even though temperature didn’t seem to exist in the vast emptiness. The shadows inside him felt restless and uneasy, their confused warnings echoing in his ears and itching under his skin. The anxiety kept building up until he couldn’t handle it anymore, diving out of the shadows and into the white desert.

The feeling of wrongness lifted immediately, the shadows calming down. Heedless of his surroundings, the Demon listened closer until the soft whispers died completely, the shadows returning to their dormant state. Heart pounding, he called them once more sinking into the darkness. Silence again. His insides churned with worry, and Kokuto sent a silent howl calling the darkness to him.

Nothing. Nothing where there should have been an avalanche of power coming to his aid… The Demon resurfaced in Hueco Mundo once again, half in and half out the Shadow Realm, his perfectly justifiable paranoia climbing up. What could have caused the shadows to abandon their Realm? Even if some other Demon had called upon them, the darkness would have remained rooted in its home dimension. The only thing he could think of were containment crystals… but they were destroyed! All the intricate machinery Hikami had used… He remembered it!

_/The dark crystal shattered, liquid darkness pouring out, and Hikami screamed in rage, her scorching light unable to dissolve the shadows._

_The darkness called, and something inside him responded to its hissing whispers. He could feel something_ change _, and his chains snapped and fell, the darkness howling with glee and coming to rest at his feet like an obedient pet._

_He was… free? “…How?”_

_“A Demon? A Demon in my kingdom?” Hikami shrieked with venomous hatred. “You dare-!”_

_The amorphous mass of shadows shifted and twisted around him and suddenly he knew what to do, with one gesture directing the tidal wave of darkness to crash into the self-proclaimed goddess._

_Her screams were muffled by the hissing darkness but soon twisted into shrieking laughter when the ray of sunlight cut through the shadows, “So the little Demon wants to play? Then let’s play!”/_

Kokuto shuddered at the returned memory. Wasn’t- Wasn’t she supposed to be defeated? The darkness was free, he could remember it now, and Hikami was- was-

The Demon pressed his hands to his temples as if trying to squeeze out the memories. They were fighting, they were all fighting, he could remember it… Water and ice against the fires of Hell… Thousands of arrows raining from the sky and burning sunlight crashing into the golden shield…

Yes, he remembered it now, chasing the fallen goddess into her lair in the deepest layer of Hell where she- where she- What did she _do_?

_/”I won’t be defeated, I won’t be defeated, you will pay, you will all pay, and suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer, BURN!”/_

She was laughing, smug, and crazed, and _triumphant_ , and he remembered lunging at her trying to stop- What? Her escape? Something worse? There was light everywhere, not burning but… _clawing_ into his head, shredding his mind, digging into his soul, tearing out his memories one by one, and dragging him – all of them – along with her to… Where?

…Or was it… _when_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter might take a while. Unfortunately, the real life takes presedence, and I'm already far behind in my work. On the brighter note, I may (or may not, it remains to be seen) post a couple of other fics (if I manage to lead them to logical conclusion).


	12. Chapter 12

** Interlude 10: Kaiser Gesang **

Masaki rubbed her chest not in pain but with quite uncomfortable feeling. She could feel her own heartbeat, ribs moving with each breath… but why couldn’t she shake off the sensation of _wrongness_ as if something was missing… With a slight frown she tried to gather reishi in the form of a bow – something that should have been effortless – with no result. Again. It didn’t matter whether she tried to form a weapon, activate Blut Vene or use Hirenkyaku – nothing happened.

Masaki wracked her brain trying to think of any reason but kept drawing a blank. Quincy couldn’t just randomly lose their power – the only known cause was Letzt Stil, but Masaki had never seen a Sanrei Glove in her _life_!

“Are you feeling alright?”

She blinked finally noticing Isshin and gave him a tired smile, “Just very frustrated. I have no idea what happened.”

The former Shinigami came closer and pulled her into a hug, “We’ll figure something out. Kisuke may know something… or we can go bug Ryuken.”

Masaki laughed hugging her husband back, “Let’s try your friend first. Ryu-chan still doesn’t like you that much.”

“Lies and slander!” Isshin protested pulling back. “It’s impossible not to like me!”

Masaki raised a skeptical eyebrow, “Then how about-”

“That never happened!”

“-And when-”

“It was a dream! Not real!”

“-What about-”

“Uhh… I should go call Kisuke, see if he is home!” Isshin quickly backpedaled nearly running out the room, his wife’s cheerful laughter following him.

* * *

“So what’s the verdict?” Masaki asked nonchalantly as Urahara tinkered with his equipment.

“Very curious,” the scientist hummed checking the data. “I am unsure about the ultimate reason but I do know the immediate cause. As you may or may not know, Quincy souls, all of them, have the identical part responsible for their powers. But for some reason your soul lacks this part. You can feel it actually – the most of it was right over your heart.”

“Huh?” Masaki blinked, surprised to find her hand once again pressed to her chest. “I… felt that something was wrong but I never thought…” She shook her head, “Is it dangerous?”

Urahara squirmed slightly under her gaze, and the woman frowned at him, “Sandal Hat?”

“I cannot say for sure,” the Shinigami admitted. “Souls can take a lot of damage – they can be split, fused, torn apart – but I have never encountered a case like yours.”

“What do you mean?” Isshin asked, worry plain on his face.

“It is quite possible to live with incomplete soul, but in all known cases the damage was localized. Think of it as losing a limb – dangerous, yes, but not necessarily lethal. In your case however…” Urahara gestured to one of the screens in the lab. “Well, see for yourself.”

There was an image of a vaguely humanoid figure with what looked like cardiovascular system drawn in black – a blot in the middle of the chest and branching lines covering the rest of the body.

“This is what your soul looks like now, Masaki-san,” Urahara said. “The damage is in black.”

The powerless Quincy closed her eyes and pressed one hand over her heart trying to feel the emptiness within. A slightly strained breathing and a bit faster heartbeat – not generally the cause for worry – turned out to be the symptoms of something much worse.

“What will happen to me?” she asked staunching the slowly building anxiety.

“Your soul is in loosely connected pieces right now,” Urahara said bluntly, “And you are constantly losing reiryoku – which is admittedly more dangerous than the damage itself. I can try to stop the bleeding – ‘cauterize’ the wound – but then not only will your soul be unable to heal, we risk fracturing it even further. And the soul shards that are too small or too disconnected would simply… dissipate. The best thing we can do right now is try and keep your reiryoku levels up by direct transfusion.”

“Is it possible to replace the damaged part?” Isshin asked with a stony face. Realizing his train of thought, Masaki gave him a stern look and mouthed, “No.”

The scientist shook his head sadly, “Unfortunately, no. At best Masaki-san’s soul will shatter completely, at worst so will yours.”

* * *

“It’s a story,” Ryuken said with a sneer. “Ancient story that has no influence on the present.”

“Not just a story, I’m afraid, Ishida-san,” Urahara replied. “Shinigami have long memory, and I can assure you, the Quincy Emperor was very real.”

“Some emperor!” Masaki huffed. “Stealing powers like that!”

“Don’t tell me you believe this tripe, Masaki!” Ryuken exclaimed.

“Do you have any other explanation, Ryu-chan?” she asked. Receiving no reply she said, “How did the story go?”

With a sigh he relented. “The legend says that the sealed king will regain his heartbeat after 900 years, his intellect after 90 more, and after 9 more years he will regain his power by taking away the power of every ‘impure’ Quincy.”

“And what an _amazing_ coincidence it is that the final battle between Yamamoto-sotaicho and Yhwach happened _exactly_ 990 years ago,” Urahara piped up before adding with a serious expression, “I don’t believe in coincidences, Ishida-san.”

The Quincy glared at him, “What do you want from me, Shinigami?! My wife is in coma, and all you can offer are fairy tales?!”

The scientist hid behind his fan, “Unfortunately, yes. The soul damage is quite extensive. The only thing we can do right now is supply the reiatsu and hope that it will heal on its own.”

Ryuken closed his eyes looking too old for his age, “Then get out. I can look after Kanae on my own.”

“As you wish,” Urahara lowered the brim of his hat and disappeared into Shunpo.

Ryuken didn’t hear it, lost in his grief and helpless anger, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Masaki smiled sadly and embraced him, “Everything will be alright, Ryu-chan. She will wake up, just you wait. No evil old man can keep us down.”

Desperately he clutched her back, hoping beyond hope that she was right.

* * *

** Chapter 10: Dawning Sun **

Her name was Hikami. She was female. She was a spirit. This man was terrified of her but obeyed nonetheless. She enjoyed his fear and pain. The yellow rock was important.

She frowned. That was the extent of her knowledge? How unpleasant. A scientist like her with so little- A scientist? Yes, she was, wasn’t she? She was a genius who- Ah, another blank. This was becoming annoying. It felt like her entire world had shrunk; as if the great library was burnt down, and all that was left were few pieces of paper with words written randomly on them.

She pursed her lips. No matter. She might remember or she might not, but she would find whoever did this to her and make them pay!

Her fingers tightened unconsciously around the small rock, and she looked at the object in puzzlement trying to figure out its meaning. It was yellow, round, very smooth, and warm though she didn’t know whether it radiated heat or was such way from the contact with her skin. Either way, holding it was becoming awkward. Hikami looked down at herself. Did she have pockets? Apparently not.

The bright multiple-layered dress she was wearing had plenty of tears and holes as well as multiple stains of questionable origin. Still beautiful though, colored angry red, orange, and yellow of raging fire.

She was also shoeless. Hikami stared at her dirty bare toes. This felt… embarrassing somehow, unfitting her status. No matter. No one would dare laugh at her, she was sure of that.

Interestingly enough, she had plenty of jewelry – golden bracelets on both wrists and ankles, rings on each finger with differently colored stones, and a thin chain with a locket around her neck.

She took the locket in one hand examining it closely. It was spherical in shape, made of two symmetrical stylized suns, the empty space between the thin “sun rays” showing it was designed to hold something. On a hunch she opened the tiny lock and put the stone inside. Perfect fit.

Hikami nodded to herself in satisfaction pushing a stray lock of wavy blond hair behind her ear and examined her long claw-like nails. There was a lot of dirt and crusted blood underneath and with a scowl she began cleaning it out. Unfortunately, beauty required constant work.

Noticing a movement from the corner of her eye, she glanced at the man standing nearby and shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another. His dark clothes were just as damaged as her own though he managed to keep his shoes. There were shackles around his neck and chains on his chest – _/the chains, unbreakable, indestructible, bound every Togabito to the Hell dimension, but she refused to believe that freedom was impossible/_.

Hikami blinked at the sudden memory that appeared and disappeared like a flash of lightning. So it seemed like her memories were coming back. Perfect, although she could try to jolt them some more.

“Who are you?” she asked lazily, and the man nearly jumped, his face paling.

“I’m your servant, Hikami-sama!” he said quickly as if reciting from memory and bowed deeply.

She grinned. It was quite obvious that any other answer would have lead to some _unpleasant_ consequences for him. She might not remember much, but she knew herself so well!

“Of course you are,” she cooed with a saccharine smile. “But what is your name, servant?”

“Shu- Shuren, Hikami-sama!”

“Well, Shu-Shuren,” she giggled slightly at her own joke. “Do you have anything interesting to tell me?”


	13. Chapter 13

** Interlude 11: Caged **

The world remained the same – the towering skyscrapers, no longer tilted sideways, and a wide expanse of water cutting into the cityscape from one side. And yet something felt… not quite _wrong_ but not exactly _right_ either.

Muramasa paced back and forth trying to pinpoint the sensation. It seemed to radiate from the portion of the Inner World that belonged to Ichigo, only from a deeper layer than the one he was currently in. Zanpakuto spirit paused indecisively. He wasn’t exactly invited to dig so deeply into his wielder’s soul even though he doubted that Ichigo would mind. Besides, whatever happened didn’t feel dangerous. On the other hand, if something was wrong, it was his duty to fix it.

With strengthened resolve Muramasa searched for the easiest access point.

It wasn’t long until he found a building imperceptibly different from the others. Slightly hesitant, he touched the glass that rippled like water and stepped through.

The world he appeared in was covered in thick fog leaving only a small portion of flat white desert and gnarled black trees visible. However, what attracted his attention was a cage standing in the middle and the figure sitting cross-legged inside. The caged spirit matched his surroundings – white with just a bit of black visible – white coat with black fur on the sleeves and collar, white hair covered partially with what looked unnervingly like black Hollow’s mask with a long curved horn. In his white-skinned clawed hands the spirit held two black weapons – a large khyber knife and a smaller trench knife.

Muramasa didn’t notice how close he came to the steel bars, stunned that he wasn’t the only spirit there. But how? He had access to all Ichigo’s memories, yet nothing in them suggested that someone else inhabited his soul.

The caged spirit opened his eyes – the right one looked normal, but the left one had pure black sclera.

Muramasa nearly jerked back but tried to keep his surprise from showing. _“You are awake,”_ he noted.

The spirit looked at him then slowly stood up, **“You found us. We were wondering how long it would take you.** ” The voice sounded flat, expressionless, as if the caged spirit hadn’t spoken in a long time.

Zanpakuto stepped closer, running his fingers over the steel bars and the invisible walls between them. The cage felt strange. It was Shinigami reiatsu, no mistake there, but not his and not Ichigo’s either.

 **“Isshin,”** the spirit spoke again. **“He trapped us.”**

 _“Why?”_ Muramasa asked. _“Who- What are you?”_

** “Our name is meaningless now. You took our place.” **

Muramasa felt his eyebrows climbing up, _“You are a Zanpakuto? Then why doesn’t Ichigo remember you? Why are you trapped here?”_

The spirit shrugged, **“Necessary at one point. Had to be bound. Couldn’t survive otherwise.”**

Muramasa fought the urge to rub his temples. This was insane. _“Meaningless or not, what is your name?”_ he asked finally.

 **“Zangetsu,”** the spirit responded. **“Or perhaps Tensa Zangetsu? We are not quite sure.”** He was quiet for a brief moment then asked, emotion finally slipping into his voice, **“Will you free us?”**

 _“Free you?”_ Muramasa repeated, eyes narrowed, and pressed his hand to the side of the cage again trying to feel the spirit within.

 **“It’s damaged already,”** Tensa Zangetsu said stepping closer. **“We will break out in time. Or you could free us now. There is a lot of power inside us. You can take it. We will give it to you freely.”**

Muramasa crossed his arms, his expression closing off. _“Why? Didn’t you say I took your place? Don’t you hate me for it?”_

 **“No,”** the caged spirit said simply. **“We exist to protect Ichigo but we are trapped. We couldn’t save him. You did.”**

With a sigh Muramasa shook his head, _“I can’t make a decision like this on my own.”_

 **“Then bring Ichigo here,”** Tensa Zangetsu responded. **“We will wait.”**

* * *

** Chapter 11: Gateway to Hell **

“Drop the Bankai,” Kaien said. “Conserve the power. You’ll need it.”

Renji shrugged refusing to show how much the brisk words and serious expression of the usually laidback Arrancar unnerved him. He grasped the sharp tip of his tail in one hand and concentrated on the thin fracture within his soul, forcing it to split back in two pieces, “Hanase, Zabimaru.”

His whole body glowed and quickly shed the bone-like carapace, starting from his head, revealing his normal human form underneath. Once his feet were free, the remains of the tail shortened and changed shape becoming the familiar chain-sword. Renji sealed his Shikai sheathing Zabimaru and turned to Kaien with arms crossed, “Well?”

Chad was also out of Fullbring, watching the Arrancar with interest. The former Shinigami was up to his waist inside a small Garganta doing who knew what.

“Found them!” Kaien announced suddenly, diving out of the rip in space and forcing it wider with a wave of his hand. “C’mon! No time to waste!”

With a brief glance at each other and a shrug, Chad and Renji followed.

* * *

With mounting worry Ishida looked at his friend kneeling in the white sand and clutching his head. It was unnerving to say the least, since the last time Kurosaki was so out of it was after Yhwach nearly ripped apart his soul. The Quincy scowled forcing down the rage as he remembered the so-called emperor. Good damn riddance! The world was so much better without any god-wannabes.

He sighed remembering his (admittedly stupid) idea to join Wandenreich. Kurosaki caught him in time and yelled for at least an hour describing in detail everything that could go wrong. Needless to say, the idea was abandoned rather quickly. Ishida shuddered to think what could have happened if he did go through with it. Becoming one of Yhwach’s puppets seemed like the least terrible outcome.

“I… remember…” Ichigo wheezed suddenly. “Remember… Taiyo… no Mon…”

Ishida could feel his mind blacking out.

Taiyo no Mon.

Gate of the Sun.

_/The enormous structure connecting Seireitei to Schatten Bereich that the scientists from the Twelfth Division studied under the watchful eye of their new/old Captain towered over the buildings, visible from every corner._

_Uryu put his chin on his knee trying to mentally distance himself from the loud voices below. Someone (he suspected Kyoraku) brought the alcohol prompting the already annoyed Quincy to escape to the roof. He understood the reason for celebrating – it was the one-year anniversary of the end of the Blood War, the repairs were finally complete too, and a new batch of Shinigami arrived from the Academy. He understood the reason, but it didn’t mean he wanted to take part in the celebration. It was too loud, too overwhelming, and too full of morons for his taste._

_He sighed, feeling the approaching reiatsu. Well, if the relative peace he found had to be broken…_

_“There’s more than enough space here,” Ishida said, not moving from his spot._

_“I can see why you came here,” Chad responded coming to sit not quite close but not so far that they couldn’t hear each other. “The view is rather beautiful.”_

_Ishida snorted, the setting sun briefly reflecting off his glasses, “I was thinking more about the lack of noise. Then again, they are so loud, I’d hear them even on Earth.”_

_Chad didn’t respond, seemingly lost in his thoughts, and the Quincy continued, “I get where they are coming from. They want to-”_

_‘Feel alive,’ he wanted to say, even though it sounded slightly ridiculous when talking about Shinigami, but the words stuck in his throat, pressure building behind his eyes. Ishida squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t going to cry. He wasn’t. Fucking war. He needed therapy._

_Drawing a shuddering breath, Uryu concentrated on the few good things that came out of the whole disaster. At least he had a family now, though he couldn’t stop thinking of all the people who could never come back to their loved ones._

_A hand on his shoulder was a welcome distraction from the depressing loop his thoughts tended to spiral into._

_“We survived,” Chad rumbled. “We survived and saved everyone we could. Life goes on.”_

_Yes, life went on, it always did. Through pain, grief, and loss…_

_Didn’t stop him from wishing it never happened though._

_Uryu stubbornly refused to look at his friend with his emotions so off-kilter, staring instead at the faraway Gate. He hated the damn thing, remembering sharply how it made the invasion possible from wherever the Wandenreich army resided. At least with Silbern destroyed no one could attack from the shadows again._

_…He should have remembered that fate was always listening._

_With the sound that still haunted his nightmares the Gate activated./_

Gasping like a fish out of water, Ishida jerked awake. The second invasion, the beginning of brief but vicious Hellfire War, how could he forget it?! No wonder Kurosaki was brought to his knees if this was what he remembered!

The sound of space tearing open attracted his attention, familiar reiatsu flowing out of the newly formed Garganta.

“Here you are,” Kaien said jumping out, Renji and Chad following him. “Now we just have to wait for the others.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seems like 13 really is an unlucky number if it took me so long to write this chapter.
> 
> Hanasu (離す) – separate, divide, part. "Hanase" is the imperative form (thanks to Starrie Wolf for pointing it out!)


	14. Chapter 14

** Interlude 12: Last Chance **

Aizen should have looked ridiculous with those butterfly wings of his, but it was hard to feel anything but fear when he effortlessly regenerated the horrendous wound that Gin inflicted, shrugged off any attack with ease, knocking Yoruichi from the sky and cleaving Kaien almost in half. Not even Yamamoto’s flames could harm him now, the fully awakened Hogyoku absorbing the energy without a trace.

So this was what he meant by evolution.

At least he could be injured before, the strongest attacks managing to harm him, but now? Now even his reiatsu could no longer be felt.

How could you fight someone like this?

Ichigo felt sick from fear and exhaustion, the combination of Bankai and Segunda Etapa draining his reiatsu much faster than he could replenish it, the effort of maintaining three Shards requiring all his attention.

Swiping his hand across his horns again, he charged another Cero, his blood coloring it dark crimson, almost black, and the Shards copied his movements, four beams of Gran Rey Cero hitting Aizen simultaneously.

And to no effect.

“It is useless,” the former Captain announced, his voice calm and amused. “And yet, I expected better from you.”

Teleporting behind one of the Shards, he struck it down, ignoring the explosion of reiatsu that the destroyed construct released.

Ichigo felt his perception narrow from four points of view to three, that brief moment when it became even harder to discern which of the bodies that his mind was splintered between was the original.

Once again he rushed forward, his Zanpakuto wreathed in purple flames, the remaining Shards following his lead, but the mountain-crushing blows didn’t leave even a scratch on the former Shinigami.

Aizen quirked his lips into an arrogant smile, “Useless.” He slashed at another Shard cutting it from shoulder to waist. “Useless.”

Ichigo didn’t have enough reiatsu left to heal the Shard, so he let it dissolve, his perception narrowing again to just two. Breathing heavily he gathered reiatsu for another Cero, but Aizen had already moved, a powerful blow sending him crashing into the side of a building. Ichigo felt the last Shard dissolve as he dropped from Bankai to Shikai, Resurreccion cracking and shattering around him.

Aizen smirked, “So the fabled protector has fallen. Don’t worry, I will not kill you. You will become one of the witnesses of my transcendence.”

Raising the sword fused to his hand, the former Captain let it sink through the barrier between worlds, the Senkaimon starting to open.

In a flicker of Shunpo Urahara appeared behind him, holding barely conscious Kaien with one arm.

Aizen turned around with lazy amusement, so sure of his power, when his eyes widened, his movements slowing down to a crawl. Quickly the scientist pushed a tiny box into his chest, right below the glowing Hogyoku. The object activated, flaring out with light and darkness, dragging Aizen into a pocket dimension of his own making.

“Time dilation and Caja Negacion!” Kaien laughed, choking on his own blood, his regeneration unable to cope with all his wounds.

“This will give us some time, though not much,” Urahara admitted. “An hour, perhaps. We need to plan our next action.”

“Plan?” Ichigo rasped. “What plan are you talking about? No one could even scratch him!”

“I could,” a weak voice whispered.

The fraying strings of Ransotengai were the only thing keeping Ishida upright, broken bones jutting through the holes in his dirty and bloodstained uniform. “Vollstandig _worked_. I could injure him.”

With clumsy fingers Ishida reached for his Glove.

Ichigo flash-stepped to his side, “Don’t! You damn moron! You’ll die if you use it again!”

The power always came with a price. Bankai and Resurreccion used up reiatsu. Vollstandig drove the body to the brink of exhaustion, beyond the breaking point.

Ishida gave him a shaky grin, “Better me than Karakura, right?”

Ichigo froze then slowly reached up to snap the reishi strings, catching Ishida who could no longer stand on his own, “Arrogant asshole. Do you think you’re the only Quincy here?”

He dug into his soul, forcing the source of his Quincy power to materialize in the real world, “Old Man.”

Zangetsu slowly inclined his head, “Ichigo.”

Hysterical laughter bubbled in his chest, “Guess we’re going to fight much earlier than I thought.”

A brightly glowing bow appeared in the spirit’s hands, “Do you think you can defeat me, Ichigo?”

This time he laughed out loud tearing his mask back into existence, “Do I have any other choice?! Bankai! Kagami no Hahen!”

* * *

** Chapter 12: A Sinner’s Regret **

Rukia and Orihime. Right. Faulty memories aside, he needed to get the girls from wherever they ended up and bring them to the paranoid Arrancar. Seriously, what was his problem? Then again, if the Hell Goddess was involved, the speed was of utmost importance, though for the life of him Kokuto couldn’t figure out what happened.

The bright flare, the feeling of being dragged somewhere… He remembered it clearly now. And they all ended up in different dimensions… But it was Hikami who was at the epicenter; did it mean she was lost somewhere as well? The Demon shuddered. The Sun of the Damned was desperate, if she was no longer in Hell, then who knew how much destruction she could bring. No wonder Kaien was so worried. Hopefully, Hikami had just as much memory problems as all of them. It would at least give them some time.

The Demon turned his mind to the present, fixing the mental image of two girls before his eyes. The shadows responded immediately, tugging him forward (or was it backward? To the side? Direction didn’t seem to exist there either). He let the darkness lead him, though the sense of movement was absent as well with nothing to catch his eye. Yet some other sense told him he _was_ moving, and soon he could see the Shinigami and the human as clearly as if he was standing right in front of them.

It seemed like they didn’t move from their place on a tree though it was hard to tell. The damn trees were everywhere. Rukia was in Bankai, seemingly asleep, while Orihime was hanging from a tree branch like a cute monkey.

Kokuto smiled softly. He liked Inoue. She was bright and cheerful and wanted everyone to be happy, just like- just like-

The Demon dug his nails into his palms, the image of another girl dancing before his eyes.

_/”So many flowers, nii-san! Thank you!”_

_“Look at what I drew, nii-san! It’s us! And we’ll be together forever and ever and ever!”_

_“I love you, nii-san!”/_

It hurt too much to remember but he could never forget the bright smile and happy laugher, that wide-eyed innocence of a child still discovering the world, untarnished by-

_/Blood. Why was there so much blood? Cold stone, cold skin, broken, bruised, and red, red, red… Why was she lying there? Lying on the ground, ashen, cold, not smiling, not talking, not moving, **not breathing**! Why was she there, why was she there? Not with him, not home, not safe, not **alive** , not anymore, just cold and red and pale and **dead**! Just a child, she had her **whole life** ahead, his **sister** and he promised to **protect** and be there for her always, always, no one **else** , no one left, just her, the two of them **forever and ever** , but not anymore, she was **gone** , just a shell left behind covered in red, red, red… And who **dared** to touch her, to slice and tear and paint the ground red, and she cried and hurt, still tears in her eyes, only tears and no **life**! Why wasn’t he there? Why didn’t he stop- Who did this? **Who did this?!** He will find, he will find, find, find, find, **find** , and paint the world red!/_

The shadows screeched in his head, shredding the memory and pushing the madness back to the low simmer somewhere deep within his soul. Kokuto tore the scarf away from his face exposing the scarred skin and drew a shuddering breath. He could feel the tears in his eyes and the bile rising up his throat.

Kaiyo, his little sister, who deserved to live a long life, have friends, fall in love, _be happy_ …

Kaiyo who was murdered in a dark alley and left there like a broken doll.

Kaiyo whose name meant “forgiveness” but he could never forgive and could never forget.

And how could he? From the moment she was born, Kaiyo was his responsibility, their drunkard mother dying soon, their father kicking them out without a second thought. Only two of them struggling to survive on the streets…

He tried so hard to keep her safe, but failed in the end.

Even now he remembered the bright madness swallowing his mind. He remembered tracking down the killer and the vicious delight he took in torturing him to death. He remembered killing all of his cronies in the slowest and most painful ways that came to his mind. But why **stop** _there_? He took his time to _find_ their **friends** and **families** , _cutting down_ **anyone** who stood **in his way**. He had so much **fun** _slaughtering_ them **like pigs** , leaving a trail of **blood** and **death** behind…

The shadows shrieked again bringing him out of the dangerous, dangerous place he nearly fell into. Damn. He wasn’t normally that easy to send over the edge. Had to be the side-effect of his fucked up memories.

Kokuto inhaled deeply, trying to calm down. He couldn’t change the past, he could only try and keep it from repeating itself. Kaiyo was gone, and so were all the people he killed, guilty and innocent alike. No amount of regret could change it.

But maybe… maybe now that he was free, he could try to find his sister in the afterlife? Perhaps the shadows… No, the shadows couldn’t track down someone whose reiatsu they didn’t know.

Besides, he had bigger problems now, namely, the mad goddess who had bent to her will the entirety of Hell dimension and now wanted to sink her claws into other worlds as well.

Resolutely the Demon plowed through the unsettling nothingness of Shadow Realm. Better get this over with and the sooner the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kagami (鏡) – mirror. Hahen (破片) – shard, fragment, splinter, broken piece. Kagami no Hahen (鏡の破片) – mirror shards.
> 
> You have no idea how much time I spent trying to figure out Ichigo’s Bankai. Anyway, Muramasa has illusion-based powers, and an affinity to mirrors, so his Bankai creates reflections – but very solid and very real. Right now Ichigo can only create his own copies, however, in time (that is, years upon years from now) he’ll be able to copy pretty much anyone. His copies have the exact same powers that he does; the copies of anybody else will have only a fraction of power. Each copy requires insane amount of reiatsu to maintain, moreover, he controls all of them simultaneously, that is, his mind is splintered between his real body and all the copies. All in all, a very powerful, but incredibly hard Bankai, which is why Ichigo only uses it as a last resort.
> 
> Regarding Aizen: in canon he boasted about being on a different level from everyone else. My guess is, after being nearly killed by Gin, he evolved so that nobody from a lower level could touch him. Ichigo could match him only because he went through an evolution of his own. Final Getsuga Tensho is no longer an option in my story, but Aizen said he transcended Shinigami and Hollows. No word about Quincy here. Since Vollstandig can break into reishi pretty much anything, it seemed like an appropriate method to destroy the Hogyoku, however it lashed out before shattering, and left Ichigo powerless.
> 
> Caja Negacion – an object designed to trap Arrancar – was given to all Espada. So of course Kaien would have one. The ability to slow down time used to belong to Baraggan, now it's Kaien's.
> 
> And yes, Kokuto is not a good person, he deserved Hell at one point, but the geniune regret he felt later gave him a chance for redemption.


	15. Chapter 15

** Interlude 13: Enslaved **

Worried. She was always worried, ever since she lost her powers, and the task of protecting her family fell on her son’s shoulders. And she always, always wished she could help.

“You wish to have your powers back?” a voice asked from everywhere and nowhere, resonating within her mind, and Masaki gasped looking around yet seeing no one. The voice was familiar, but the spirit calling himself Zangetsu had never sounded so malicious. “Wish granted.”

Masaki didn’t have the time to comprehend what it meant, before a sudden weakness made her almost keel over as the old scars within her soul were ripped open, the meager amounts of reiryoku she still possessed pouring out, the darkness swallowing her mind.

…Was she going to die?

Masaki couldn’t finish the thought when something bright and crisp poured onto the bleeding fragments of her soul, mending the fractures that never quite healed. The world came sharply into focus and the almost forgotten feeling of power flooded her body. She could once again sense the reishi permeating her surroundings, almost begging to be used, the familiar sensation she never thought she’d experience again.

_Some things were too good to be true._

With horror she felt her body move on its own accord, the ancient malicious will sinking its claws into her mind and soul, jerking her around like a puppet on strings.

“Masaki? What happened?”

Somebody was there. Electric blue eyes glowing with power focused on a man before her. Shinigami. Enemy! Her arm jerked up, bow and arrow forming around it, as the pattern of Blut Vene spread underneath her skin.

She hesitated.

The voice urged her to let the arrow loose but something within her protested vehemently.

“…Mom?”

Another voice, another person. Slowly she lowered her arm struggling to dismiss her bow. “Yu- Yuzu…?”

“Mom?” the girl repeated stepping closer but the Shinigami – Isshin – stopped her.

“Run…” Masaki whispered when the voice in her head became louder, drowning out the outside world. “Run!” she screamed as the glowing wings opened behind her back. She grasped the sharp edges, forcing the constructs into dormancy, fighting to control the power that was no longer hers. “Run run run runrunrun **RUN!!!** ”

* * *

The steady beeping of heart monitor and the barely audible breathing were the only things breaking the quiet of the hospital room. The woman lying on the bed looked asleep – as she did for the last nine years.

The rhythm broke suddenly, her heart beating faster, and with the sharp inhale she opened her eyes – inhumanly blue and glowing brightly.

Her fingers twitched, the atrophied muscles unable to do much else, before the thin strands of Ransotengai wrapped around her emaciated body. She threw off her covers and ripped off the various tubes and wires of medical equipment finally standing up.

The arriving medical personnel were met with a blank stare, their voices fading into background noise, their touches having no effect on her immovable form. They weren’t who she was waiting for.

She cast her senses around pinpointing the bright flare of a pureblood Quincy moving towards her and felt her dry lips curl into a smile. The traitor was coming.

The door burst open nearly falling off its hinges, Ryuken running in and stopping in his tracks. “Kanae…?” he whispered in disbelief taking a shaky step towards her.

“Traitor,” she rasped and obeying the voice in her head raised her arm forming a bow. “Die.”

* * *

** Chapter 13: Fake **

“Good morning!” Inoue cheered waving her hand.

Rukia blinked in confusion but knew better than to ask what her friend was doing hanging from a branch like that. The Shinigami rubbed her eyes waking up completely, “Did you remember anything?”

Orihime shook her head sadly, fingers trailing over her hair clips. She could reject and reshape physical world any way she pleased, though spiritual was a bit trickier – reishi obeying without question, reiryoku sliding like water through her fingers, unchanged. But minds and souls were beyond her reach. Otherwise, so many problems could have been averted.

Inoue growled quietly, the unwanted memories unfolding before her eyes.

If only she could reject the false memories Tsukishima gave her. If only she was capable of destroying the paralyzing bonds the shattered Hogyoku placed on Ichigo leaving him powerless. If only.

So much heartache could have been avoided.

Orihime flipped off the branch, standing on air with a scowl fixed on her usually kind face. She couldn’t lay the blame completely on her powers though. She should have been more vigilant, not letting her guard down, even if she thought that Chad’s friend was simply showing off his Fullbring. And, of course, it became impossible to separate friends from enemies afterwards.

_/”Why… why are you attacking Tsukishima-kun?” Inoue cried, her shield protecting them both from a barrage of arrows. “Why are you siding with Ichigo?”_

_Why, why, why? Wasn’t Tsukishima their friend? Wasn’t he the one who saved Rukia and defeated Aizen? Wasn’t he ready to break into Las Noches when she was kidnapped? Wasn’t he always there to help and protect them…?_

_…Protect?_

_“He is playing you, Inoue!” Ishida yelled in desperation. “It’s his Fullbring!”_

_…Protect? Her mind latched onto the word, something nagging at her._

_“It can create fake memories!”_

_Fake? No, no, it couldn’t be! Her memories weren’t fake, she remembered everything…!_

_Yet something was wrong, wrong, **wrong**! Tsukishima was her friend, but Uryu was her friend too, and it made no sense!_

_“Ayame, Shun’o!” she cried, silently begging her Shun Shun Rikka for help, trying to make sense of what was happening, yet receiving nothing but the horrendous feeling of wrongness._

_“Inoue, please, listen to me!”_

_“Trust me, Inoue.”_

_Two voices vying for attention, two people dear to her. What was she supposed to do?!_

_Ishida’s expression changed, hardened with resolve, as he reached for the Sanrei Glove, “If you don’t listen, then I’ll make you!”_

_Blazing wings opened widely, the edges cutting into her shield and absorbing all reiatsu put into it before another barrage of Licht Regen slammed into her. Orihime skidded on the ground, Tsukishima’s sword falling beside her while the Fullbringer himself was flung farther away. She crawled back to her feet and grasped the weapon, intent on throwing it back to its owner, but was stopped by Ishida flash-stepping closer and grabbing her hand._

_“Cut yourself,” he said. “Cut yourself and your real memories will come back.”_

_She stared at him, confused, when Tsukishima yelled, “No, don’t! Just throw it back to me!”_

_The wings, dormant but ready to activate at a moment’s notice, wrapped around her, and another arrow sent the Fullbringer slamming into a tree._

_Her fingers tightened around the hilt. Why not? After all, if Ishida was lying, nothing would happen, right?_

_With a swift movement Inoue sliced her hand open._

_The world seemed to tilt on its axis, foggy memories blazing with startling clarity, like an abstract painting resolving itself into an understandable image if you only looked at it the right way._

_Slowly Orihime turned around to look at Tsukishima, and for the first time in her life there was nothing but hatred in her eyes./_

Inoue shivered trying to shake off the old anger. That fiasco was long over – Tsukishima was dead, Ichigo was back at full power, thanks to the Shinigami, Visored, and Arrancar donating their reiatsu, and all was forgiven.

Thankfully, right now her memories were missing, not replaced, and if her Shun Shun Rikka were right – and they always were – she would remember them in time.

* * *

“Hanase, Sode no Shirayuki,” Rukia said, the whiteness lifting off her skin and clothes in a flurry of snowflakes and reforming into the shape of her Zanpakuto. At the questioning look from Orihime she scowled, “There’s nothing to fight here.” And it was always better to conserve power, no matter how paranoid she felt.

Something flickered on the edge of her perception and Rukia snapped into attention, glancing around. Inoue seemed to be picking out something as well, her stance tense and ready for a fight.

The forest seemed to darken, shadows coming alive, and both women relaxed at the somewhat familiar sight.

“Found you,” a voice sounded, overlaid by the hissing whispers of living shadows, and the white-haired Demon stepped out of the darkness.

Rukia arched her eyebrows, “And you were looking for us why exactly?”

Kokuto crossed his arms, “Does the name ‘Hikami’ sound familiar?” Seeing her blanch, he nodded, “Thought so. Now c’mon, I’ll bring you to the others.”

The shadows obediently slinked forward spreading beneath their feet, the three of them sinking quickly into the pool of darkness.

The Shinigami nervously laid her hand on the hilt of her sword. It seemed like she was right in deciding to conserve power. The disjointed memories of Hell made little sense, but the name of Sun Goddess resonated with danger.

“Wasn’t this place noisier?” Rukia frowned, her words swallowed by the nothingness of the Shadow Realm.

The Demon heard her nonetheless. “It was,” he responded. “No idea what happened. It’s like all the shadows are just… _gone_. Only those that were inside me are left.”

“We… travelled like this before, right?” Orihime asked, her halting voice sounding muted and faraway. “Back- back when-”

“When we were in Hell!” Rukia gasped. “Ichigo! It was Ichigo! He led us to- to-”

“To Hikami,” Kokuto finished. “Yeah, I remember it now too.”

“…Did we defeat her?” Rukia asked with a slightest tremble in her voice.

The answer she got was not particularly reassuring. “I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why, yes, I am very evil, thanks for asking. But hey, getting possessed by an evil douche and trying to kill your family is better then dying, right? ...Right?
> 
> Anyway, if you think that 9-year coma is too long, I checked, and while it's certainly unusual, it's not impossible.
> 
> If Tsukishima presented himself as an enemy, Orihime would've wiped the floor with him, so he pretended to be Chad's friend instead.


End file.
